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Sacramento, CA
Chapter 3
Transitional Kindergarten
Through Grade One
Page Chapter at a Glance
132 OverviewoftheSpan
133 AnIntegratedandInterdisciplinaryApproach
134 KeyThemesofELA/LiteracyandELDInstruction
136 MeaningMaking
137 MeaningMakingwithText
141 LanguageDevelopment
143 VocabularyInstruction
143 ReadingAloud
145 EffectiveExpression
145 Writing
146 Discussing
147 Presenting
147 UsingLanguageConventions
148 ContentKnowledge
149 WideReading
149 EngagingwithInformationalText
150 EngaginginResearch
150 FoundationalSkills
152 PrintConcepts
152 PhonologicalAwareness
156 PhonicsandWordRecognition
161 Fluency
162 FoundationalSkillsforEnglishLearners
164 SupportingStudentsStrategically
166 EnglishLanguageDevelopmentintheGradeSpan
167 IntegratedandDesignatedEnglishLanguageDevelopment
169 TransitionalKindergarten
171 KeyThemesofELA/LiteracyandELDInstructioninTransitionalKindergarten
171 MeaningMaking
AnIntegratedandInterdisciplinaryApproach
Th e C A C C S S f or E L A / L iterac y inc lu de strands in R eading, W riting, S p eak ing and L istening2 ,
and L angu age. A s noted in c h ap ters 1 and 2 of th is ELA/ELD Framework, alth ou gh th e strands are
p resented sep arately in th e standards, th ey are interrelated; th ey are not distinc t, indep endent areas
of th e c u rric u lu m . J u st as adu lts disc u ss or w rite ab ou t w h at
th ey read in order to c larif y or ex p ress th eir u nderstandings,
c h ildren sh ou ld h av e op p ortu nities to c onf er and w rite in ThestrandsofCACCSSfor
resp onse to tex t. J u st as adu lts read to learn m ore ab ou t ELA/LiteracyandtheCA
a top ic u nder disc u ssion or to inf orm th eir w riting, c h ildren ELDStandardsarenotonly
sh ou ld h av e op p ortu nities to engage w ith tex t to learn m ore integratedamongthemselves,
ab ou t a su b j ec t of interest, inv estigate q u estions raised in
theyaredeeplyinterwoven
disc u ssions, and gath er ideas f or w riting. L angu age is th e
b asis f or eac h of th ese c om m u nic ativ e ac ts, and v oc ab u lary withcontentlearning.Reading,
and an u nderstanding of c onv entions and th e p u rp oses writing,speaking,listening,
f or u sing langu age are insep arab le f rom reading, w riting, andlanguageareinextricably
sp eak ing, and listening. B oth th e C A C C S S f or E L A / L iterac y linkedtoeveryareaofthe
and th e C A E L D S tandards c all f or th e integration of reading, curricula.
w riting, sp eak ing, and listening.
Th e strands of C A C C S S f or E L A / L iterac y and th e C A
E L D S tandards are not only integrated am ong th em selv es, th ey are deep ly interw ov en w ith c ontent
learning. R eading, w riting, sp eak ing, listening, and langu age are inex tric ab ly link ed to ev ery area of
th e c u rric u la. L earning su b j ec t m atter req u ires th at stu dents u nderstand and u se th e langu age of th e
su b j ec t to c om p reh end, c larif y , and c om m u nic ate c onc ep ts. Th e langu age arts are c ru c ial tools f or
th e ac q u isition and c onstru c tion of k now ledge and th e dev elop m ent of c lear, ef f ec tiv e c om m u nic ation
ac ross th e disc ip lines ( N ational R esearc h C ou nc il 2 0 12 ) . A nd, c onv ersely , learning su b j ec t m atter
enric h es dev elop m ent of th e langu age arts as c h ildren ac q u ire new v oc ab u lary , new w ay s of c onv ey ing
m eaning, and new u nderstandings to b ring to su b seq u ent interac tions w ith w ritten and sp ok en tex t.
Th u s, th is ELA/ELD Framework c alls f or an integrated and interdisc ip linary ap p roac h to teac h ing th e
langu age arts.
Th e relationsh ip b etw een th e langu age arts and c ontent learning is ap p arent th rou gh ou t
C alif ornia s su b j ec t m atter c ontent standards. A f ew ex am p les f rom k indergarten and grade one
standards in v ariou s c ontent areas inc lu de th e f ollow ing:
E du c ate f am ily and p eers to p rotec t against sk in dam age f rom th e su n. ( C alif ornia Grade O ne
H ealth S tandard 8 . 1. P )
D esc rib e th e righ ts and indiv idu al resp onsib ilities Snapshotsandlongervignettesof
of citizenship. (California Grade One HistorySocial
S c ienc e C ontent S tandard 1. 1) practicepresentedingradelevel
C alif ornia s p u b lic sc h ool p rogram s, inc lu ding
sectionsofthischapterillustrate
transitional k indergarten, k indergarten, and grade one, howtheCACCSSforELA/Literacy
ensu re th at th e strands of R eading, W riting, S p eak ing strands,theCAELDStandards,
and L istening, and L angu age are tau gh t as m u tu ally andcontentareainstruction
su p p ortiv e elem ents of th e langu age arts and are a ric h canbeintegratedtocreatean
and th ou gh tf u l asp ec t of instru c tion in ev ery su b j ec t
intellectuallyrichandengaging
area.
earlyliteracyprogram.
S im ilarly , in c lassroom s w ith E L s, th e c om p onents
of th e C A E L D S tandards I nterac ting in M eaningf u l
W ay s, L earning A b ou t H ow E nglish W ork s, and U sing F ou ndational L iterac y S k ills are integrated
th rou gh ou t th e c u rric u la, rath er th an b eing addressed ex c lu siv ely du ring designated E L D . ( S ee
c h ap ter 2 and su b seq u ent sec tions of th is c h ap ter f or disc u ssions of integrated and designated E L D . )
S nap sh ots and longer v ignettes of p rac tic e p resented in grade- lev el sec tions of th is c h ap ter illu strate
h ow th e C A C C S S f or E L A / L iterac y strands, th e C A E L D S tandards, and c ontent area instru c tion c an b e
integrated to c reate an intellec tu ally ric h and engaging early literac y p rogram .
KeyThemesofELA/LiteracyandELDInstruction
This section discusses each of the five themes of Californias
E L A / literac y and E L D instru c tion desc rib ed in th e introdu c tion
Teachersinthegradespan to th is f ram ew ork and c h ap ters 1 and 2 as th ey p ertain to
recognizetheircritical transitional kindergarten through grade one (see figure 3.1):
roleinensuringchildrens M eaning M ak ing , L ang uag e Dev elopment, Effectiv e
initialstepsontheexciting Ex pression, Content K now ledg e, and F oundational
Sk ills. I m p ac ting eac h of th ese f or E L s is learning E nglish
pathwaytowardultimately
as an additional langu age, and im p ac ting all stu dents is th e
achievingtheoverarching context in which learning occurs. Displayed in the white field of
goalsofELA/literacyand the figure are the characteristics of the context for instruction
ELDinstruction... c alled f or b y th is ELA/ELD Framework. Highlighted in figure 3.2
is researc h on motiv ation and eng ag ement, disc u ssed in
th e introdu c tion and c h ap ter 2 of th is f ram ew ork . Teac h ers in
th e grade sp an rec ogniz e th eir c ritic al role in ensu ring c h ildren s initial step s on th e ex c iting p ath w ay
tow ard u ltim ately ac h iev ing th e ov erarc h ing goals of E L A / literac y and E L D instru c tion ( disp lay ed in th e
outer ring of figure 3.1): students develop the readiness for college, careers, and civic life; attain the
c ap ac ities of literate indiv idu als; b ec om e b roadly literate; and ac q u ire th e sk ills f or liv ing and learning
in th e 2 1st c entu ry .
Meaning Making
Each of the kindergarten and grade one strands of the CA
CCSS for ELA/Literacy make clear the attention that meaning
making should receive throughout language arts instruction,
as do all components of the CA ELD Standards. The CA CCSS
reading standards center on meaningful interactions with
literary and informational text. For example, they require that
children learn to ask and answer questions about the content
of texts (RL/RI.K1.1), attend to the meaning of words in texts
(RL/RI.K1.4), learn about text structures as different ways to
tell stories and share information (RL/RI.K1.1), explore the role
of illustrations in contributing to text meaning (RL/RI.K1.7),
and make comparisons among events or information in one or
more texts (RL/RI.K1.9). Much of this occurs during read aloud
experiences in this grade span.
3 F or stu dents w h o are deaf and h ard of h earing w h o u se A m eric an S ign L angu age as th eir p rim ary langu age, th e term
oral ref ers to th e u se of sign langu age.
M any strands or c lu sters of standards c ontrib u te to m eaning m ak ing w ith tex t. A m ong
th em are th e f ollow ing:
Those that help students develop a deeper understanding of literary
and informational text. S tu dents resp ond to p rob ing q u estions, m ak e
inf erenc es, c onnec t new ideas and inf orm ation to p rev iou s k now ledge, and engage
aesth etic ally and c ritic ally w ith a range of tex t. I n th e transitional k indergarten
th rou gh grade one sp an m u c h of th is w ork is done th rou gh interac tiv e read alou ds.
As students become more proficient in reading independently, a combination of
interac tiv e read alou ds and reading tex t is u sed.
Those that help students understand more complex language and
w ith m ore gram m atic ally c om p lex c lau ses, ex p anded nou n and v erb p h rases, and
complex sentences. Much of this work with young children is done orally at first,
and th en it is b lended w ith reading tex t.
Those that focus on developing students vocabularies and knowledge
of the concepts underlying these words. S tu dents c annot u nderstand eith er
sp ok en or w ritten tex t u nless th ey k now nearly all th e w ords b eing u sed and th e
c onc ep ts em b odied in th ose w ords.
Those that contribute to students knowledge about a subject and the
manner by which the content is communicated. Know ledge h as a m aj or
im p ac t on readers ab ility to engage m eaningf u lly w ith th e c ontent of a tex t. Th u s,
m aterial u sed in eith er oral or w ritten f orm sh ou ld c ontrib u te to stu dents grow ing
k now ledge ab ou t th e w orld and of th e w ay s in w h ic h th at k now ledge is c onv ey ed
( e. g. , dif f erent tex t stru c tu res and f eatu res) .
Those that lead to mastery of the foundational skills so that students
can independentlyand with easeaccess written language. S tu dents
learn h ow p rint w ork s. Th ey learn to dec ode w ritten w ords ac c u rately and w ith
au tom atic ity , th at is, ef f ortlessly and rap idly . Th ey identif y th e sou nds rep resented
b y letters in p rinted w ords and b lend th ose sou nds into w ords. W ith p rac tic e, th e
w ords b ec om e au tom atic ally rec ogniz ed. E v entu ally , stu dents reac h th e m agic
m om ent w h en th ey c an u se th e f ou ndational sk ills th ey h av e b een ac q u iring to
rec ogniz e enou gh dec odab le and h igh - f req u enc y irregu larly sp elled w ords th at
w ritten tex t b ec om es lik e sp eec h and th ey c an dec ode and u nderstand new ( th at
is, p rev iou sly u nenc ou ntered) tex t at th eir lev el. M ost c h ildren sh ou ld b e ab le to
read simple text independently by mid-first grade. A significant, but by no means
ex c lu siv e, f oc u s of th e w ork in th e transitional k indergarten th rou gh grade one
sp an is dev oted to instru c tion in f ou ndational sk ills. A s c h ildren b ec om e f am iliar
w ith m ore c om p lex sp elling- sou nd p atterns and h av e p rac tic ed enou gh w ords, th eir
grow ing lex ic on of au tom atic ally rec ogniz ed w ords allow s th em to read inc reasingly
complex text fluently and frees them to think about, enjoy, and learn from what
th ey are reading. A s c h ildren p rogress th rou gh th e grades and dev elop m ore
confidence in their reading ability, they can also productively struggle with text with
c onc ep t loads, v oc ab u lary , and langu age stru c tu res som ew h at ab ov e th eir lev el.
Language Development
Language plays a major role in learning. Indeed, its ongoing
development is imperative if students are to achieve the goals set
forth in the introduction to this ELA/ELD Framework and displayed
in the outer ring of figure 3.1. Language development should be a
central focus of schooling, in all areas of the curricula, beginning in
the first years.
Both the CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy and CA ELD Standards for
kindergarten and grade one reflect the importance of language
development. Each strand of the CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy includes
attention to language. For example, children learn to determine the
meaning of words and phrases in texts in the Reading strand (RL/
Figure 3.5. Selected Academic Vocabulary and Complex Grammatical Structures from
R umpelstiltsk in by Paul O. Zelinsky
G eneral Academic
Complex G rammatical Structures
V ocabulary
enc ou ntered N ow , th e k ing h ad a p assion f or gold, and su c h an art intrigu ed
im p ress h im .
p assion Th ere sat th e p oor m iller s dau gh ter, w ith ou t th e sligh test idea
sligh test h ow any one c ou ld sp in straw into gold.
deligh ted So he led the millers daughter to a larger room filled with straw,
rej oic ed and h e ordered h er to sp in th is straw too b ef ore daw n, if sh e
sc arc ely v alu ed h er lif e.
p iteou sly
inq u iries
Teachers encourage reading aloud at home. They collaborate with parents and other caregivers to
share ways of reading aloud, including ways that support school learning. Parents or other caregivers
of ELs are encouraged to read aloud in the childs primary language.
Teachers ensure that they and others read aloud from a wide range of books. In addition to
promoting language development, exposure to myriad genres and topics contributes to childrens
progress toward becoming broadly literate, which is one of the overarching goals of Californias
ELA/literacy and ELD instruction. (See the introduction and chapter 2 of this ELA/ELD Framework
and the outer ring of figure 3.1 for a discussion of goals. See also the section in chapter 2 on reading
aloud.)
Effective Expression
In the earliest grades, children begin to make progress toward
expressing themselves effectively. They use their developing language
to make their wishes and opinions known. They convey information in
such a way that others can understand. They ask questions to meet
their cognitive (and other) needs and satisfy their curiosity. Multiple
standards across the strands of Reading, Writing, Speaking and
Listening, and Language contribute to childrens progress in effective
expression. This section includes an overview of effective expression
in writing, discussing, and presenting, as well as using grade-
appropriate language conventions. Additional guidance is provided in
the grade-level sections of this chapter.
Writing
The writing standards reflect an emphasis on meaningful and skillful communication. Childrens
writing (as dictated or independently produced) is about something: the expression of opinions
(W.K1.1), sharing of information (W.K1.2), and telling of stories (W.K1.3). Furthermore, children
share their writing with others and respond to their questions and suggestions to more effectively
communicate their thinking in written language (W.K1.5). In other words, as noted in the previous
section on meaning making, writing is not simply copying text. It is using the understanding that print
is purposeful in concert with the skills that are being acquired to create and communicate, to express
ideas and informationfor oneself or for others.
In the transitional kindergarten through grade one span, children begin to express themselves
through writing by making marks, drawing, and dictating their ideas to an adult or older student.
to p resent f or b oth sm all and large grou p s du ring th e transitional k indergarten th rou gh grade one
sp an of ten ( b u t not ex c lu siv ely ) in th e f orm of sh aring ( or sh ow and tell ) . I m p ortantly , c h ildren
are tau gh t h ow to resp ond p ositiv ely , resp ec tf u lly , and ac tiv ely as listeners.
E f f ec tiv e p resentations interest b oth sp eak ers and listeners, and c h ildren h av e c h oic es in w h at th ey
wish to present. Furthermore, presenting should be a psychologically safe and affirming experience for
all c h ildren.
S om e p resentations, su c h as sm all grou p p resentations of songs or p oetry , are rec orded and
sh ared v irtu ally , w ith ap p rop riate p erm issions, w ith b road au dienc es. M u ltilingu al p resentations m ay
b e dev elop ed draw ing u p on th e langu ages of th e c h ildren.
U sing L ang uag e Conv entions
O ne asp ec t of ef f ec tiv e ex p ression is th e u se of langu age c onv entions. Y ou ng c h ildren dif f er f rom
one anoth er in th eir k now ledge of and ex p osu re to th e c onv entions of standard E nglish , and teac h ers
teach conventions explicitly, gently guiding young children toward their proficient use in both written
and sp ok en ex p ression. I t is im p ortant to note th at gram m ar and its u sage rarely dev elop in a linear
p ath , and th at as c h ildren sy nth esiz e new gram m atic al k now ledge w ith th eir c u rrent k now ledge,
it m ay ap p ear th at th ey are m ak ing errors in areas of langu age dev elop m ent th ey h av e already
internaliz ed. H ow ev er, th ese inc orrec t u sages ( su c h as say ing goed to signif y p ast tense of go) are a
natu ral p art of langu age dev elop m ent.
Content Knowledge
Content knowledge other than ELA, is largely the purview
of other frameworks and model curricula published by the
California Department of Education (http://www.cde.ca.gov/).
A few examples include frameworks on historysocial science,
health, visual and performing arts, and the Education and the
Environment Initiative Curriculum (http://www.californiaeei.org/
Curriculum/). However, given the reciprocal relationship between
content knowledge and literacy and language development and
the call for integration of the curricula, discussions of content
knowledge are included throughout this ELA/ELD Framework.
Decades of research indicate that knowledge contributes to
reading and writing achievement. The more an individual knows
about a topic, the more success he or she likely has engaging
meaningfully with text and others about the topic. Furthermore, knowledge of subject matter is
accompanied by, and indeed cannot be separated from, language development. Words, sentence
structures, and discourse structures differ across subject matter (Shanahan and Shanahan 2012), and
so content learning contributes to the development of language, especially academic language. In
short, content knowledge facilitates literacy and language development.
The reciprocal is true as well. Not only does content
knowledge impact literacy and language development, but
Words, sentence structures, literacy and language development provide students with the
and discourse structures tools to independently access, acquire, and construct domain
differ across subject and general world knowledge. The more skilled children are
matter, and so content in the language arts (that is, reading, writing, speaking, and
learning contributes to the listening), the more they can learn about the world.
development of language, Two points about content area instruction are crucial. First,
content area instruction should be given adequate time in the
especially academic school day, including during the earliest years of schooling.
language. Second, content area instruction should include attention to
literacy and language development in the subject matter along
with subject-matter appropriate pedagogy (e.g., meaningful hands-on investigations, explorations,
projects, demonstrations, and discussions).
Three aspects of the ELA/literacy instruction that support content learning are discussed here.
These include wide reading, engaging with informational texts, and engaging in research.
aloudsandforindependent
c h ildren, b oth as read alou ds and f or indep endent ex p loration. exploration.
teac h er lib rarians, f am ilies, and c om m u nities are good resou rc es of m aterials f or c lassroom teac h ers.
W ide reading b egins early and c ontrib u tes to c h ildren s p rogress tow ard b ec om ing b roadly literate, one
of th e ov erarc h ing goals f or C alif ornia s stu dents disc u ssed in th e introdu c tion and c h ap ter 2 of th is
Foundational Skills
Careful, systematic attention is given to development of the
foundational skills during the early years, as these skills play a
critical role in reading success (Brady 2012, NICHD 2000) and
the achievement of the goals of ELA/ELD instruction discussed in
the introduction and chapter 2 to this ELA/ELD Framework and
displayed in the outer ring of figure 3.1. The CA CCSS Reading
Standards for Foundational Skills and Part III of the CA ELD
Standards (Using Foundational Literacy Skills) are directed
toward fostering childrens understanding and working knowledge
of concepts of print, phonological awareness, phonics and word
recognition, and fluency. Several standards in the Language
strand, especially those in which children learn to print upper- and
lowercase letters (L.K1.1) and learn to write a letter or letters for
A major goal of early reading instruction is to teach children the skills that allow them to
independently engage with print. One of these skills is decoding printed words. Mastering this
skill begins the process of automatically recognizing words, which frees readers to think about
what they read.
By sounding out or decoding a new word, the learner connects the letters or letter
combinations with the sounds they represent and blends those sounds into a recognizable
spoken word with its attendant meaning. (The spoken word should already be in the beginning
readers vocabulary, and the learner should understand that the point of decoding is to
access meaning.) After a word is decoded several times, this sound-symbol-meaning package
becomes established. In subsequent encounters with the word in print, the learner recognizes
and understands the word at a glance in much the way he or she understands a familiar
spoken word.
Ensuring that children know how to decode regularly spelled one-syllable words by mid-first
grade is crucial to their progress in becoming independent readers. (Instruction in decoding
simple words begins for many children in kindergarten.) Beginning readers need several skills
in order to decode printed words. Learners need to be phonemically aware (especially able to
segment and blend phonemes); know the letters of the alphabet, letter-sound and spelling-
sound correspondences, and other print concepts; and understand the alphabetic principle
(that is, that letters and letter combinations represent the sounds of spoken language).
Beginning readers are taught to use this knowledge to generate and blend sounds represented
Print Concepts
P rint c onc ep ts are th e organiz ation and b asic f eatu res of w ritten E nglish . C h ildren learn th e
directionality of written English; that spoken words are represented by specific sequences of letters;
th at w ritten w ords are sep arated b y sp ac es, u p p er- and low erc ase letters of th e alp h ab et; and
distinguishing features of sentences (RF.K1.1ad). Some of the print concepts standards are related
to phonics and word recognition standards (e.g., RF.K1.3a whereby children learn letter-sound and
spelling-sound correspondences) and language standards (e.g., L.K1.1a whereby children learn to
p rint letters) . S ee th e grade- lev el sec tions in th is c h ap ter f or f u rth er disc u ssion.
Phonolog ical Aw areness
P h onologic al aw areness is th e aw areness of and ab ility to m anip u late th e sou nd u nits in sp ok en
langu age. I t inc lu des attending to sy llab les, onsets and rim es, or p h onem es, th e sm allest u nit of
sou nd in a sp ok en langu age. F igu re 3 . 8 p rov ides inf orm ation ab ou t th ese u nits.
Phonolog ical
Definition Ex ample
U nit
Phoneme Th e sm allest u nit of sou nd in sp eec h /p/ // and /n/ in the spoken
w ord pan
E nglish c onsists of ab ou t 4 3 p h onem es. * *
/th/ /r/ and // in three
// and /p/ in up
* Th e six sy llab le ty p es in w ritten E nglish are desc rib ed in c h ap ter 4 .
**The number of phonemes in English identified by linguists varies depending upon the phonetic description used
( M oats 2 0 0 0 ) .
// up , h um / s/ sou p , f ace
// ab ov e, sof a /w h / w hat, w hy
/ aw / , / / aw f u l, c augh t /z / z oo, b ec au se
Figure 3.11. Foundational Literacy Skills for ELs in the Transitional Kindergarten through
Grade One Span
Student L ang uag e and Considerations for CA CCSS for EL A/ L iteracy
L iteracy Characteristics F oundational R eading Standards:
L iteracy Sk ills I nstruction F oundational Sk ills
N o or little sp ok en S tu dents w ill need instru c tion in Phonolog ical Aw areness
English proficiency rec ogniz ing and distingu ish ing 2 . D em onstrate u nderstanding
O ral Sk ills
F luency
S om e f ou ndational S tu dents w ill need instru c tion 4 . R ead em ergent- reader tex ts
literacy proficiency in ap p ly ing th eir k now ledge w ith p u rp ose and u nderstanding.
in a langu age u sing of p rint c onc ep ts, p h onic s and
RF.K1.4
th e L atin alp h ab et w ord rec ognition to th e E nglish
( e. g. , S p anish ) w riting sy stem , as c om p ared
or c ontrasted w ith th eir nativ e
langu age alp h ab et ( e. g. , letters
th at are th e sam e or dif f erent, or
rep resent th e sam e or dif f erent
sou nds) and nativ e langu age
v oc ab u lary ( e. g. , c ognates) and
sentenc e stru c tu re ( e. g. , su b j ec t-
v erb - ob j ec t v s. su b j ec t- ob j ec t-
v erb w ord order) .
SupportingStudentsStrategically
S u p p orting stu dents strategic ally b egins w ith k now ing th e c h ildren. E du c ators sh ou ld c onv erse
w ith f am ilies to learn ab ou t c h ildren s ex p erienc es w ith langu age and literac y ; th eir attitu des, interests,
and ex p ec tations; and th eir p rior sc h ooling. F am ilies are th e sou rc e of v alu ab le inf orm ation, and
respectful, collaborative relationships between homes and schools greatly benefit students and those
w h o teac h th em .
m ore intensiv e, and h igh ly targeted instru c tion. ( S ee c h ap ter 9 in th is ELA/ELD Framework. ) Teac h ers
organiz e th e sc h ool day to m eet w ith c h ildren in sm all grou p s to ensu re all c h ildren rec eiv e th e
Research with children experiencing difficulties or those with learning disabilities suggests the
f ollow ing f or f ou ndational sk ills:
I ntegrating ex p lic it ref erenc es to p rint du ring adu lt/ c h ild read alou d interac tions adv anc es y ou ng
c h ildren s k now ledge of th e f orm s and f u nc tions of p rint. Th is is esp ec ially im p ortant f or c h ildren
entering sc h ool w ith relativ ely lim ited p rint k now ledge ( J u stic e and P iasta 2 0 11) .
I n term s of p h onem ic aw areness, sh ort, w ell- p lanned lessons f oc u sed on b lending and
segm enting p h onem es, along w ith a f ew letter- sou nd c orresp ondenc es, deliv ered f req u ently
du ring th e w eek to sm all grou p s h av e p ositiv e ef f ec ts f or m ost c h ildren. H ow ev er, som e c h ildren
need m ore intensiv e su p p ort ( O C onnor 2 0 11) .
L ink ing instru c tion in p h onem ic aw areness and letter- sou nd c orresp ondenc es is esp ec ially
important for children experiencing difficulty with the alphabetic principle (OConnor 2011).
EnglishLanguageDevelopmentintheGradeSpan
Th e c ontent and instru c tional p rac tic es desc rib ed in th is c h ap ter are im p ortant f or all c h ildren, b u t
they are critical for EL children if they are to develop English language proficiency and fully participate
in intellec tu ally ric h c u rric u la ac ross th e disc ip lines. I nstru c tion is p rov ided b y h igh ly - sk illed teac h ers
w h o u nderstand not only th e c ore instru c tional p rac tic es in transitional k indergarten th rou gh grade
one, b u t also h ow to identif y and address th e p artic u lar langu age and ac adem ic learning strength s and
needs of th eir E L stu dents. To su p p ort th e sim u ltaneou s dev elop m ent of E nglish , c ontent k now ledge,
and th e ab ility to ex p ress c ontent k now ledge ef f ec tiv ely , teac h ers c onsider h ow E L c h ildren learn
Meaning Making
In transitional kindergarten (and throughout the grades),
meaning making is the heart of all instruction. Childrens
learning is purposeful. Children engage with a range of texts
(largely through read alouds), participate in learning experiences
in all the content areas, and interact with one another in
meaningful ways. They have access to a comfortable and
child-friendly classroom library and space to explore books
independently and with peers. They are read aloud to daily from
books they may later pick up and recite from memory (such as
predictable books) and from texts that stretch their language
and build their knowledge of literature, genres, and content.
They see printed materials used in purposeful ways throughout
4.1 Demonstrate knowledge of details in a familiar story, including characters, events, and
ordering of events through answering questions (particularly summarizing, predicting, and
inferences), retelling, reenacting, or creating artwork.
4.2 Use information from informational text in a variety of ways, including describing,
relating, categorizing, or comparing and contrasting.
See the kindergarten section of this chapter for more information.
Language Development
Language development is the cornerstone of transitional
kindergarten programs, and children engage in many verbal
exchanges throughout each day. They discuss a broad range of
texts and topics with diverse partners, including adults. They
share their thoughts and experiences and are encouraged
to ask questions of one another. Teachers demonstrate a
genuine interest in their ideas and prompt them to share their
knowledge, feelings, and opinions. They guide children in using
language to reflect on, clarify, and share the experiences they
have across the curricula.
Teachers support childrens language development by
building from the California Preschool Learning Foundations
(http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/re/psfoundations.asp) in Listening
and Speaking (See figure 3.14) and supporting childrens
progress toward achievement of the kindergarten CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy (See the kindergarten
section of this chapter).
Th e transitional k indergarten env ironm ent is langu age ric h ; sp eak ing, listening, and learning ab ou t
language are significant parts of each day. Children have multiple opportunities to express themselves
v erb ally , inf orm ally and in m ore stru c tu red w ay s, ab ou t intellec tu ally - stim u lating su b j ec ts. Teac h ers
serv e as ex c ellent langu age m odels, p artic ip ate in one- on- one c onv ersations w ith c h ildren th at inc lu de
m u ltip le ex c h anges on th e sam e su b j ec t, u se and engage c h ildren in dec ontex tu aliz ed ( b ey ond th e
h ere and now ) langu age, and p rov ide op p ortu nities f or p retend langu age, su c h as in dram atic p lay
areas.
th an th eir p eers
M ak ing u se of a p rop ( su c h as a f oam b all or stu f f ed toy ) , w h ic h is p assed f rom one c h ild to
another, to signal who has the floor
S trategic ally ask ing q u estions th at p rom p t c h ildren to b u ild on or resp ond to one anoth er s
c om m ents, su c h as C an som eone add to w h at N ga j u st said? W h at q u estions do y ou h av e f or
J ean? and W h at else do y ou k now ab ou t w h at F rank j u st said? , th u s gu iding c h ildren to listen
to one anoth er and to stay on top ic
E nc ou raging c h ildren to address one anoth er in a grou p disc u ssion
A v oiding resp onding to ev ery c h ild s c om m ent du ring a grou p disc u ssion, th ereb y allow ing
c h ildren to c ontinu e th e c onv ersation and c onv erse w ith one anoth er ( in oth er w ords, teac h ers
b ec om e one m em b er of th e grou p rath er th an th e dom inant m em b er; grou p c onv ersations are
h eld, rath er th an a series of one- on- one dialogs w ith th e teac h er)
H elp ing th e m ost enth u siastic c ontrib u tors giv e oth ers th e op p ortu nity to sp eak
I n addition to p osing q u estions, su c h as th ose disc u ssed in th e ov erv iew of th e sp an in th is
c h ap ter, teac h ers m ay p rov ide sentenc e starters to p rom p t sm all grou p or p artner disc u ssions. F or
ex am p le, teac h ers m ay p au se du ring a read alou d and ask c h ildren to th ink ab ou t and th en tu rn to a
neigh b or and c om p lete one or m ore of th e f ollow ing sentenc es:
I th ink _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .
Th e c h arac ter is _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .
W h at is really interesting ab ou t w h at ou r teac h er j u st read is _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .
S om eth ing I learned ab ou t m y w orld is _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .
Th is m ade m e th ink of _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .
I w onder _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .
Th e au th or _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .
I t tak es tim e f or y ou ng c h ildren to learn to ef f ec tiv ely engage in disc u ssions. Teac h ers inv olv e
c h ildren in determ ining ex p ec tations f or disc u ssions, m odel ef f ec tiv e disc u ssion b eh av iors and
c om m ents, and p rov ide m any op p ortu nities f or c h ildren to disc u ss tex ts and top ic s w ith one anoth er
ac ross th e c u rric u la.
F oundation Ex amples
1. 1 D isp lay ap p rop riate b ook - h andling Th e c h ild orients a b ook c orrec tly f or reading ( i. e. ,
b eh av iors and k now ledge of p rint righ t- side u p w ith th e f ront c ov er f ac ing th e c h ild) .
c onv entions.
1. 2 U nderstand th at p rint is som eth ing Th e c h ild ask s th e teac h er, W h at does th is say ? w h en
that is read and has specific meaning. p ointing to tex t in a b ook .
F oundation Ex amples
2 . 1 O rally b lend and delete w ords and Blend words: Th e c h ild p lay s th e W h at s Th at W ord?
sy llab les w ith ou t th e su p p ort of p ic tu res gam e w h ile on a sw ing. W ith eac h p u sh of th e sw ing,
or ob j ec ts. th e teac h er say s one p art of a c om p ou nd w ord ( e. g. ,
su n, sh ine) and th en ask s th e c h ild, W h at s th at
w ord? Th e c h ild resp onds, S u nsh ine.
Blend syllables: Th e c h ild c h ants, sister af ter singing
along to, W h at w ord do y ou get w h en y ou say sis and
ter togeth er?
Delete words: Th e c h ild resp onds, table w h en ask ed,
W h at w ord do y ou get w h en y ou say tablecloth
w ith ou t cloth ?
Delete syllables: Th e c h ild resp onds, door w h en
ask ed, W h at w ord do y ou get w h en y ou say doorknob
w ith ou t knob ?
2 . 2 O rally b lend th e onsets, rim es, and Blend onsets and rimes: W h ile engaged in a gam e, th e
p h onem es of w ords and orally delete c h ild selec ts th e p ic tu re of a b ed f rom am ong th ree
th e onsets of w ords, w ith th e su p p ort of or f ou r p ic tu res ( or say s, bed ) w h en ask ed to p u t
p ic tu res or ob j ec ts. togeth er th e letter sou nds b-ed.
Blend phonemes: W h ile p lay ing a b ingo gam e du ring
sm all grou p tim e, th e c h ild c h ooses and m ark s p ic tu res
c orresp onding to th e w ords f or w h ic h th e teac h er
sou nds ou t th e indiv idu al p h onem es ( e. g. , h - a- t, m - o- p ,
c -u -p ).
Delete onsets: Th e c h ild selec ts th e p ic tu re of ants f rom
am ong th ree or f ou r p ic tu res ( or say s, ants ) w h en
ask ed to say pants w ith ou t th e p letter sou nd.
F oundation Ex amples
3 . 2 M atc h m ore th an h alf of u p p erc ase W h en sh ow n an u p p er- or low erc ase letter, th e c h ild
letter nam es and m ore th an h alf of c an say its nam e.
low erc ase letter nam es to th eir p rinted
f orm .
3 . 3 B egin to rec ogniz e th at letters h av e Th e c h ild say s th e c orrec t letter sou nd w h ile p ointing to
sou nds. th e letter in a b ook .
Source
C alif ornia D ep artm ent of E du c ation. 2 0 0 8 . California Preschool Learning Foundations, Volume 1. S ac ram ento: C alif ornia
D ep artm ent of E du c ation.
Print Concepts
A s noted in th e ov erv iew of th e sp an of th is c h ap ter, c h ildren learn p rint c onc ep ts th rou gh teac h er
m odeling of b ook h andling and am p le ex p osu re to and engagem ent w ith a v ariety of p rint m aterials,
p artic u larly th rou gh sh ared reading and w riting. Th ey m ak e p rogress in learning u p p er- and low erc ase
letters th rou gh ex p lic it instru c tion th at is ap p lied to ric h and relev ant c ontex ts. Teac h ers m odel daily
h ow p rint w ork s, and c h ildren interac t m eaningf u lly and p u rp osef u lly w ith p rint in a range of c ontex ts.
(Note: Alphabet knowledge is identified as a Print Concept in the reading foundational skills of the
C A C C S S f or E L A / L iterac y , b u t it is not listed in th e C onc ep ts ab ou t P rint su b strand of th e C alif ornia
P resc h ool L earning F ou ndations. R ath er, in th e latter it is listed in th e A lp h ab etic s and W ord/ P rint
R ec ognition su b strand. )
Phonolog ical Aw areness
Transitional k indergarteners b u ild p h onologic al aw areness
th rou gh b oth direc t instru c tion and f req u ent p lay w ith th e
sou nds of langu age. C h ildren learn th at sp ok en w ords c onsist of Childrenlearnthatspoken
sm aller u nits ( sy llab les, onsets and rim es, and p h onem es) , and wordsconsistofsmaller
they manipulate and reflect on those units as they sing, recite units(syllables,onsetsand
p oem s, engage w ith b ook s, and p lay langu age gam es. E x am p les rimes,andphonemes),and
inc lu de th e f ollow ing ( Y op p , H . K. and Y op p 2 0 0 9 ) : theymanipulateandreflect
C h ildren sing O ld M ac D onald and, w ith teac h er
onthoseunitsastheysing,
p rom p ting, add a p h onem e to th e initial p osition of E - I - E -
I - O , singing B E - B I - B E - B I - B O or H E - H I - H E - H I - H O .
recitepoems,engagewith
books,andplaylanguage
C h ildren learn and rec ite H ic k ory D ic k ory D oc k . Th e
teac h er later c h anges D oc k to D are and th e c h ildren games.
c ontrib u te a c orresp onding rh y m e, c h anting H ic k ory
D ic k ory D are/ Th e m ou se ran u p th e . . . stair! or b ear!
D ew dney , A nna. 2 0 0 5 . Llama Llama Red Griego, M argot C . , and oth ers. 19 8 1. Tortillitas
Pajama. N ew Y ork : V ik ing. Para Mama and Other Nursery Rhymes:
Spanish and English. N ew Y ork : H enry
P om erantz , C h arlotte. 19 7 4 . The Piggy in the H olt.
Puddle. N ew Y ork : S im on & S c h u ster.
R ob leda, M argarita. 2 0 0 3 . Nmeros
S eu ss. 19 7 4 . Theres a Wocket in My Pocket! Tragaldabas. M ex ic o: E dic iones D estino.
N ew Y ork : R andom H ou se.
* Teac h ers w h o do not teac h in alternativ e b ilingu al p rogram s m ay p rov ide gu idanc e on h igh - q u ality read alou d tex ts
in S p anish to p arents w h o p rim arily sp eak S p anish so th at th ey c an engage th eir c h ildren w ith th ese tex ts.
Ms. Watson reads Tingo Tango Mango Tree by Marcia Vaughan to her transitional
kindergarteners seated in front of her at the carpet area. After a lively discussion of the story,
she asks the children what they notice about the animals names. She repeats them and
encourages the children to join her in saying the animals names aloud. The iguana is named
Sombala Bombala Rombala Roh. The flamingo is Kokio Lokio Mokio Koh. The parrot is Willaby
Dillaby Dallaby Doh. The turtle is Nanaba Panaba Tanaba Goh. The bat is Bitteo Biteo. They
repeat the names several times and comment that most of the names are longer than any
they have ever heard! Together, with Ms. Watsons support, the children clap the syllables in
each characters name. They determine that all the names except the bats are composed of
ten syllables! Bitteo Biteo contains six syllables. Ms. Watson suggests the children clap the
syllables in their own names. Modeling her name first, she claps twice noting that Wat-son has
two syllables. The children turn to a neighbor to share and confirm the number of syllables in
their own names.
Ms. Watson asks each individual to clap his or her name for the group, and corrective
feedback is gently, but clearly, provided. The children next organize themselves into groups
in different areas of the room. Those with one-syllable names stand in one area, those with
two syllables stand in another area, and so on. With Ms. Watsons guidance, the children form
a human histogram, defining the term. With a common starting point, they line up with all
children having one syllable in one line, those with two-syllable names in another, and so on.
They converse with their peers about their observations of the lines. Which line has the most
children? Which has the fewest? What does the length of each line mean?
Following the activity, the children return to their tables and write their names on sticky
notes. These will be used to construct a paper histogram. The children affix the notes to
a group chart, creating columns above the appropriate number on the horizontal axis. For
example, Jean places her sticky note in the column above the number 1, signifying that her
name consists of one syllable. Michi places her sticky note in the column above the number
2, Makayla places her sticky note in the column above the number 3, and Jeremiah places
his sticky note in the column above the number 4. The children talk with one another about
their observations of the developing histogram, exclaiming over the data. Ms. Watson listens
to the children as they converse informally, and she purposefully prompts them to use specific
terms to describe the mathematical ideas (such as more than, fewer than, the same number
as). As needed, she models using mathematical language for her EL students and then asks
them to say the words with her.
Ms. Watson then gathers all the children together at the carpet area and solicits comments
about any conclusions they are drawing. The childrens comments are written on the chart
alongside the histogram. For example, one child observes that There are more people with
two-syllable names than any other number of syllables. Another child observes that There
are the same number of children with one-and four-syllable names. A few children suggest
that the story characters names be included on the graph, and they all chant the unusual
names together, giggling as Ms. Watson creates sticky notes for them. Together they decide
the horizontal axis needs to be extended to have a place for 10-syllable names, and they
affix each characters sticky note where it belongs. Strategically, and by popular demand, the
teacher rereads the book several times over the next several days and engages the children in
syllable clapping. The book and chart remain accessible for a couple of weeks, so students can
continue to look at and converse about them informally.
Resource
Vaughan, Marcia. 1995. Tingo, Tango, Mango Tree. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Silver, Burdett Press.
Source
Snapshot based on
Yopp, Hallie K., and Ruth H. Yopp. 2000. Supporting Phonemic Awareness Development in the Classroom. The
Reading Teacher 54 (2): 130143.
Transitional kindergarteners listen to, enjoy, and discuss the book, Goldilocks and the
Three Bears, several times over the course of a week. They chant along when there are
repetitive phrases, ask and answer questions about the story, and talk about the illustrations.
Their teacher, Mrs. Haddad, guides childrens identification of key story details by using its
narrative structure and recording the characters, settings, and events of the plot on a large
chart. With support, children use 12 x 18 construction paper to construct individual books.
Drawing or using cut paper, each child designs a cover page, a page with a home in the
forest, a third page with three bowls, a fourth with three chairs, and a fifth page with three
beds. Paper cutouts of Goldilocks and the bears are given to the children to use as props. The
children move the props through the pages of their books as they read, using the cutouts as
scaffolds as they retell the story to one another.
Mrs. Haddad thoughtfully selected the book for the retelling activity because there are
objects, such as bowls, chairs, and beds that can serve as memory triggers for story events
and structures and phrases used repeatedly throughout the story: This porridge is too hot!
This porridge is too cold! This porridge is just right. Before they use their books to retell
the story, and while the other children are engaged in collaborative tasks at literacy stations,
Mrs. Haddad spends extra time with her EL children who are at the Emerging level of English
language proficiency. Using a book she has constructed, which is similar to the one the
children each made, she collaboratively retells the story with the children. She also prompts
the children to use transition terms, such as then and next, and draws their attention to past
tense verbs (e.g., Baby Bear said). She intentionally models enthusiasm and intonation, and
she invites the children to do the same. This way, she is helping to build the language and
confidence EL children will need to participate in the retelling of the story with other children.
The children have multiple opportunities to retell the story using their books with different
partners. Mrs. Haddad offers to video record those who wish to be recorded so that the story
may be viewed on a class computer during independent choice time. Eventually, the books are
taken home so that children may tell the story to their families.
Resource
Cauley, Lorinda B. 1981. Goldilocks and the Three Bears. New York: Putnam.
Source
Snapshot based on
Yopp, Hallie K., and Ruth H. Yopp. 2014. Literature-Based Reading Activities: Engaging Students with Literary and
Informational Text. 6th ed. Boston: Pearson. Reprinted by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., New York, NY.
It is spring and most of the transitional kindergarteners know many of the letters of
the alphabet; some know them all. Mrs. Heaton has been sharing a variety of informational
animal alphabet books with the students in recent weeks, including Jerry Pallottas The Ocean
Alphabet Book, The Sea Mammal Alphabet Book, and The Butterfly Alphabet Book, to reinforce
their letter knowledge as well as expose them to informational text and life science concepts.
The children are enraptured by the interesting information they are learning about animals
and they enthusiastically ask and answer questions about the content. Mrs. Heaton leaves the
books at a classroom center so the children can explore and enjoy them on their own.
One morning, the children enter the classroom to find butcher paper stretched all the way
across one wall of the room. Spanning the length of the paper are the letters of the alphabet.
Mrs. Heaton tells the children they are going to create a mural using many of the animals
they have been reading about and add any other animals they would like to learn about.
Throughout the week, the children use the books and other materials, including printed and
digital images, to paint one or more animals of their choice. They ask Mrs. Heaton to read
and reread sections of the alphabet books to help them remember interesting information
and they dictate sentences about their animals to Mrs. Heaton, who prints the name of the
animal and the students corresponding sentence on a large index card. As they dictate their
sentences, Mrs. Heaton takes the opportunity to broaden the childrens language repertoires
by prompting them to provide more details about their animals (such as, it swims in the
ocean) and to use precise vocabulary to describe them (such as, it uses its enormous mouth
to get lots of plankton). She is mindful of how important this is for all children, but especially
for her EL children.
With support from Mrs. Heaton or a family volunteer, the children cut out their painted
animals and identify where to position them on the alphabet mural. Daniel, for example,
who drew a jellyish, finds the letter J on the mural and requests that his teacher tape his
painting and sentence under it. While the mural is under construction, and for several
weeks thereafter, the students enjoy viewing the animals and listening to the teacher and
other adults read the information they dictated onto the index cards.
Resources
Pallotta, Jerry. 1989. The Ocean Alphabet Book. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.
Pallotta, Jerry. 1995. The Butterfly Alphabet Book. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.
Pallotta, Jerry. 2012. The Sea Mammal Alphabet Book. Watertown, MA: Bald Eagle Books.
ELA/LiteracyandELDinActioninTransitionalKindergarten
Th e researc h - b ased im p lic ations f or E L A / literac y and E L D instru c tion are ou tlined in th e ov erv iew
of th e sp an of th is c h ap ter and in c h ap ters 1 and 2 . I n th e f ollow ing sec tion, detailed ex am p les
illu strate h ow th e p rinc ip les and p rac tic es disc u ssed in th e p rec eding sec tions look in C alif ornia
c lassroom s. Th e v ignettes p rov ided h ere are not intended to p resent th e only ap p roac h es to teac h ing
and learning. R ath er, th ey are intended to p rov ide tw o c onc rete illu strations of h ow teac h ers enac t th e
C A C C S S f or E L A / L iterac y and th e C A E L D S tandards in integrated and strategic w ay s to su p p ort deep
learning f or all stu dents.
B oth th e C A C C S S f or E L A / L iterac y and th e C A E L D S tandards em p h asiz e th e im p ortanc e of oral
langu age dev elop m ent and f req u ent ex p osu re to ric h tex ts in th e early y ears of sc h ooling. B ec au se
y ou ng c h ildren s listening c om p reh ension generally ou tp ac es th eir ab ility to read indep endently ,
teac h er read alou ds are of c ritic al im p ortanc e. ( S ee th e disc u ssion on reading alou d earlier in th is
chapter. See also the discussion and figure 2.3 in chapter
2 . ) W h en teac h ers read alou d sop h istic ated literary and
Richreadaloudexperiences
inf orm ational tex ts, th ey ex p ose c h ildren to ric h langu age
(including general academic and domain-specific vocabulary usingcomplextextsinEnglish
and c om p lex gram m atic al stru c tu res) , new ideas, and areespeciallycriticalforEL
c ontent k now ledge th at c h ildren m ay not b e ab le to ac c ess children,whomaynothave
th rou gh indep endent reading. R ic h read- alou d ex p erienc es theseexperiencesathome.In
u sing c om p lex tex ts in E nglish are esp ec ially c ritic al f or E L bilingualprograms,teacher
c h ildren, w h o m ay not h av e th ese ex p erienc es at h om e. I n
readaloudsinbothlanguages
b ilingu al p rogram s, teac h er read alou ds in b oth langu ages of
instru c tion are essential f or b iliterac y dev elop m ent. E q u ally
ofinstructionareessentialfor
im p ortant as listening to teac h er read alou ds and oth er biliteracydevelopment.
op p ortu nities to h ear ric h langu age m odels, y ou ng c h ildren
F raming Q uestions for All Students Add for Eng lish L earners
W h at are th e b ig ideas and c u lm inating p erf orm anc e W h at are th e E nglish langu age
task s of th e larger u nit of stu dy , and h ow does th is lesson proficiency levels of my
b u ild tow ard th em ? stu dents?
W h at are th e learning targets f or th is lesson, and w h at W h ic h C A E L D S tandards am p lif y
sh ou ld stu dents b e ab le to do at th e end of th e lesson? th e C A C C S S f or E L A / L iterac y
W h ic h c lu sters of C A C C S S f or E L A / L iterac y does th is at stu dents E nglish langu age
lesson address? proficiency levels?
W h at b ac k grou nd k now ledge, sk ills, and ex p erienc es do W h at langu age m igh t b e new
m y stu dents h av e related to th is lesson? f or stu dents and/ or p resent
c h allenges?
H ow c om p lex are th e tex ts and task s?
H ow w ill stu dents interac t in
H ow w ill stu dents m ak e m eaning, ex p ress th em selv es
m eaningf u l w ay s and learn
ef f ec tiv ely , dev elop langu age, and learn c ontent? H ow w ill
ab ou t h ow E nglish w ork s in
th ey ap p ly or learn f ou ndational sk ills?
c ollab orativ e, interp retiv e,
W h at ty p es of sc af f olding, ac c om m odations, or and/ or p rodu c tiv e m odes?
modifications will individual students need for effectively
engaging in th e lesson task s?
H ow w ill m y stu dents and I m onitor learning du ring and
af ter th e lesson, and h ow w ill th at inf orm instru c tion?
L earning T arg et: Th e c h ildren w ill retell and rew rite th e story u sing c olorf u l w ords and k ey
details to c onv ey th e series of ev ents in th e seq u enc e in w h ic h th ey oc c u rred.
CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy: RL.K.2 With prompting and support, retell familiar stories,
including key details; SL.K.2 Confirm understanding of a text read aloud . . . ; W.K.3
Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several
loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred . . . ; L.K.6
Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and
responding to texts.
CA ELD Standards (Expanding): ELD.PI.K.12a Retell texts and recount experiences
using complete sentences and key words; ELD.PII.K.1 Apply understanding of how
different text types are organized to express ideas (e.g., how a story is organized sequentially
with predictable stages . . . ; ELD.PII.K.2 Apply understanding of how ideas, events, or
reasons are linked throughout a text using a growing number of connecting words or phrases
(e.g., nex t, af ter a long tim e) . . .
L esson Ex cerpts
M s. C am p b ell c alls h er stu dents to th e c arp et and rem inds th em th at th ey h av e b een
reading lots of dif f erent v ersions of The Three Little Pigs. S h e rec alls th at y esterday , th ey sp ent
a lot of tim e retelling th e story to one anoth er and ex p lains th at today , th ey are going to u se
all of th at great oral retelling to rew rite th e story togeth er. U sing h er c om p u ter tab let and a
projector, Ms. Campbell projects five pictures depicting important events from the story. She
ask s h er stu dents to tak e tu rns w ith a p artner retelling th e story , u sing th e p ic tu res. S h e listens
to th e c h ildren as th ey sh are, noting th e langu age th ey u se, th eir ab ility to seq u enc e ev ents,
and any m isu nderstandings.
M s. C am p b ell: C h ildren, I really enj oy ed listening to y ou r retellings of th e story . Today ,
w h en I w rite dow n w h at y ou say , w e need to m ak e su re w e get all th ose
great details, inc lu ding th e setting, th e c h arac ters, th e p rob lem , and th e
im p ortant ev ents into ou r rec onstru c ted story . L et s rem ind ou rselv es w h at
w e inc lu ded in ou r story m ap .
M s. C am p b ell p oints to th e story m ap th e c lass generated togeth er ( see v ignette 3 . 2 f or th e
story m ap ) and gu ides th em in reading it. S h e th en sets th e p u rp ose f or engaging in th e nex t
task .
M s. C am p b ell: W h en w e rew rite, or rec onstru c t, th e story togeth er, w e also need to
rem em b er th at one of th e m ain p u rp oses f or telling stories is to entertain
oth er p eop le. S o w e h av e to m ak e su re th at th e langu age w e u se is really
c olorf u l and interesting. F or ex am p le, w e c an t j u st say th at th e p ig b u ilt a
h ou se and th e w olf b lew it dow n. Th at w ou ld b e k ind of b oring, w ou ldn t it?
( Th e c h ildren enth u siastic ally agree. ) I nstead, w e need to u se desc rip tiv e, or
c olorf u l, w ords and interesting dialogu e. W e c ou ld say som eth ing lik e, Th e
w olf ( tak ing a deep b reath and inv iting stu dents to j oin h er b y m otioning
w ith h er h and) h u f f ed and h e p u f f ed and h e b lew th e h ou se dow n.
Tania: H e destroy th e h ou se!
M s. C am p b ell: Th at s righ t! H e destroyed th e h ou se. H e ab solu tely dem olish ed it. C an y ou
say m ore ab ou t th at?
Tem p late to u se w ith stu dents M s. C am p b ell s lesson p lan notes f or h erself
Story Title The Three Little Pigs
Orientation Orients readers to the story Introduces
th e c h arac ters and setting, f oresh adow s th e
p rob lem
Complication Complicates the story Introduces the problem
and sh ow s h ow th ings get complicated
L ots of ev ents and dialogu e h ere
Resolution Resolves th e p rob lem in th e story and w rap s
ev ery th ing u p
(Optional) Story Theme(s) A rtic u lates th e lif e lesson( s) of th e story
S ara: H e roars!
M s. C am p b ell: D oes ev ery one lik e th at? ( Th e c h ildren nod and say y es, and M s. C am p b ell
adds it to th e story . ) A nd th en w h at does th e little p ig say ?
C h ildren: N ot b y th e h air of m y c h inny c h in c h in!
M s. C am p b ell: A nd h ow does h e say th at, M igu el?
M igu el: H e sc are.
M s. C am p b ell: Y es, h e s sc ared, isn t h e. S o does h e sh ou t it, lik e th is ( sh ou ting) ? D oes h e
w h im p er, lik e th is ( w h im p ering) ?
M igu el: I th ink h e w h im p er.
M s. C am p b ell: I th ink so, too!
When the children and Ms. Campbell are finished reconstructing the story, they read the
story togeth er c h orally . A s th ey do, M s. C am p b ell m odels enth u siastic reading and p rosody ,
and sh e enc ou rages th e c h ildren to do th e sam e. Th e nex t day , M s. C am p b ell w ill gu ide th e
c h ildren to rew rite th e story in S p anish . Th en, sh e w ill u se th e tex t f rom th e rec onstru c ted story
in E nglish and S p anish to m ak e a b ilingu al b ig b ook illu strated w ith p h otograp h s sh e h as tak en
of th e c h ildren ac ting ou t th e story in th e dram atic p lay c enter. Th e b ig b ook w ill rem ain in th e
c lassroom lib rary c orner f or th e stu dents to read and re- read to th em selv es, to one anoth er, and
to v isitors.
Teacher Reflection and Next Steps
M s. C am p b ell b rings h er ob serv ation notes and th e rec onstru c ted stories to th e nex t
regu larly sc h edu led c ollab orativ e p lanning m eeting sh e h as w ith h er TK and K c olleagu es. S h e
desc rib es gu iding h er stu dents to u se new langu age and rec ogniz e story stru c tu re as w ell as
langu age f eatu res, and sh e sh ares h ow som e stu dents h av e b egu n u sing som e of th e new
langu age in th eir oral retellings and in th e stories th ey dic tate to oth er adu lts w h o w ork in th e
c lassroom . O ne c olleagu e ask s M s. C am p b ell if h e c an m ak e u se of h er lesson p lan f or The
Three Little Pigs and ob serv e th e nex t tim e sh e engages h er stu dents in a story rec onstru c tion
ac tiv ity .
Sources
L esson adap ted f rom
D erew iank a, B ev erly , and P au line J ones. 2 0 12 . Teaching Language in Context. S ou th M elb ou rne, V ic toria: O x f ord
U niv ersity P ress.
Gib b ons, P au line. 2 0 0 2 . Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning. P ortsm ou th , N H : H einem an.
Additional I nformation
W eb sites
R eading R oc k ets h as ideas f or reading alou d ( h ttp : / / w w w . readingroc k ets. org/ reading- top ic s/ reading- alou d) .
D . E . A . R . ( drop ev ery th ing and read) w ith f am ilies sh ort v ideo ( h ttp s: / / w w w . teac h ingc h annel. org/ v ideos/ dear-
reading? f d= 1) on h ttp s: / / w w w . teac h ingc h annel. org/ .
R ecommended reading
C ollins, M olly F . 2 0 12 . S agac iou s, S op h istic ated, and S edu lou s: Th e I m p ortanc e of D isc u ssing 5 0 - c ent W ords w ith
P resc h oolers. Young Children. N A E Y C . ( http://www.naeyc.org/yc/files/yc/file/201211/YCCollins.pdf)
S h edd, M eagan K. , and N ell K. D u k e. 2 0 0 8 . Th e P ow er of P lanning: D ev elop ing E f f ec tiv e R ead A lou ds. Beyond the
Journal: Young Children on the Web. N A E Y C . ( http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200811/BTJReadingAloud.pdf)
V ig nette 3 . 2. R etelling The Three Little Pigs U sing Past T ense V erbs
and Ex panded Sentences
Desig nated EL D I nstruction in T ransitional K inderg arten
Back g round
A t th e b eginning of th e y ear, six of M s. C am p b ell s E L stu dents w ere at th e early E m erging
level of English language proficiency. By this point in the year, they are able to express
th em selv es u sing sh ort sentenc es and learned p h rases w h en th ey interac t w ith p eers in E nglish .
Th e oth er six E L c h ildren c am e into h er c lassroom at th e early E x p anding lev el and are now
ab le to interac t u sing E nglish ab ou t a v ariety of top ic s and in m ore ex tended ex c h anges. M s.
C am p b ell and h er TK and K c olleagu es p lan th eir designated E L D lessons at th e sam e tim e th at
th ey p lan th eir E L A and oth er c ontent area lessons. A s th ey p lan, th ey f oc u s on antic ip ating
stu dents langu age dev elop m ent needs f or th ese c ontent areas, and th ey m ak e adj u stm ents,
b ased on rec ent ob serv ations of th eir stu dents du ring lessons.
L esson Contex t
M s. C am p b ell w ork s w ith h er tw elv e E L c h ildren in tw o sm all grou p s of six in order to
provide designated ELD instruction tailored to their specific language learning needs. While she
w ork s w ith th ese grou p s, th e oth er c h ildren in th e c lass engage in c ollab orativ e task s at learning
c enters, som e of th em su p erv ised b y p arent v olu nteers. I n E L A instru c tion, M s. C am p b ell h as
j u st gu ided h er stu dents to rew rite, or j ointly rec onstru c t, th e story of The Three Little Pigs ( see
v ignette 3 . 1) . A s sh e ob serv ed stu dents du ring th eir oral retellings of th e story in E nglish , sh e
noticed that ELs at the Emerging level of English language proficiency were not consistently
u sing p ast tense v erb s or ex p anding th eir sentenc es w ith m u c h detail. S h e w ou ld lik e th e
children to feel more confident orally retelling stories in general and using past tense verb forms
and p artic u lar langu age resou rc es to ex p and and enric h th eir sentenc es, so sh e p lans to f oc u s
on th ese tw o areas in h er designated E L D lessons th is w eek . M s. C am p b ell s learning targets
and th e c lu ster of C A E L D S tandards sh e w ill h igh ligh t in today s lesson are th e f ollow ing:
L earning T arg et: Th e c h ildren w ill retell th e story in order u sing p ast tense v erb s
and ex p anded and enric h ed sentenc es.
M am a p ig say s The first little Th e sec ond Th e th ird little Th e th ird little
goodb y e. Th e p ig b u ilds a little p ig b u ilds p ig b u ilds a p ig tric k s th e
th ree little p igs h ou se of straw . a h ou se of h ou se of b ric k s. w olf , and th e
go to b u ild th eir Th e w olf b low s stic k s. Th e w olf Th e w olf c an t th ree p igs liv e
h ou ses. it dow n. b low s it dow n. b low it dow n. togeth er in th e
b ric k h ou se.
Ms. Campbell places the same five pictures the students have already used for orally
retelling th e story in E L A ( see v ignette 3 . 1) on th e tab le in f ront of th em . S h e h ands eac h of th e
six c h ildren a p op sic le stic k p u p p et ( th ree p igs and th ree w olv es) . S h e ex p lains th at w h en th ere
is dialogu e, th ey w ill eac h h av e a c h anc e to ac t ou t h ow th e c h arac ter is say ing th e dialogu e
u sing th e p u p p ets.
Ms. Campbell: Children, lets retell the story together. The first time, Im going to say whats
h ap p ening, and th en y ou re going to rep eat w h at I say . I w ant y ou to notic e
h ow w h en w e tell stories, w e u se w ords, or v erb s, th at tell u s th at th e story
already h ap p ened in th e p ast. S o, w e don t say , th ere are th ree little p igs.
W e say , th ere were th ree little p igs b ec au se it h ap p ened in th e p ast.
Mara: Once upon a time.
M s. C am p b ell: Y es, onc e u p on a tim e. Th at m eans it h ap p ened a long tim e ago. A nd
w e don t say , th e w olf blows th e h ou se dow n b ec au se th at w ou ld m ean
it s h ap p ening righ t now . I t h ap p ened a long tim e ago, so w e say , th e w olf
blew the house down. Say that with me blew. ( S tu dents rep eat th e w ord. )
I w ant y ou to listen f or th e w ords, or v erb s, th at let u s k now th e story
h ap p ened a long tim e ago. I ll retell w h at s h ap p ening in eac h p ic tu re, and
then you repeat after me. (Pointing to the first picture.) Once upon a time,
th ere w ere th ree little p igs.
Additional I nformation
W eb sites
Colorn Colorado has resources for ELs (h ttp : / / w w w . c olorinc olorado. org/ edu c ators/ ell_ resou rc es/ p rek / ) in
p resc h ool and TK ( h ttp : / / w w w . c olorinc olorado. org) .
N A E Y C h as m any M essages in a B ac k p ac k ( h ttp : / / w w w . naey c . org/ ty c / b ac k p ac k ) in b oth E nglish and S p anish
ab ou t h ow f am ilies c an su p p ort th eir c h ildren s langu age and literac y dev elop m ent ( h ttp : / / w w w . naey c . org) .
R ecommended reading
B erk ow itz , D oriet. 2 0 11. O ral S tory telling: B u ilding C om m u nity th rou gh D ialogu e, E ngagem ent, and P rob lem
S olv ing. Young Children. M arc h : 3 6 - 4 0 . ( http://www.naeyc.org/tyc/files/tyc/file/V5I2/Oral%20Storytelling.pdf)
Conclusion
Th e inf orm ation and ideas in th is grade- lev el sec tion are p rov ided to gu ide teac h ers of transitional
k indergarten c h ildren in th eir instru c tional p lanning. R ec ogniz ing C alif ornia s ric h ly div erse stu dent
p op u lation is c ritic al f or instru c tional and p rogram p lanning and deliv ery . Teac h ers are resp onsib le
f or edu c ating a v ariety of learners, inc lu ding adv anced learners, students w ith disabilities,
ELs at different English language proficiency levels, standard Eng lish learners, and oth er
culturally and ling uistically div erse learners, as w ell as students experiencing difficulties
w ith one or m ore of th e th em es of E L A / literac y and E L D instru c tion ( M eaning M ak ing, E f f ec tiv e
E x p ression, L angu age D ev elop m ent, C ontent Know ledge, and F ou ndational S k ills) .
I t is b ey ond th e sc op e of a c u rric u lu m f ram ew ork to p rov ide gu idanc e on m eeting th e learning
needs of ev ery c h ild b ec au se eac h c h ild c om es to teac h ers w ith u niq u e disp ositions, sk ills, h istories,
and c irc u m stanc es. Teac h ers need to k now th eir stu dents w ell th rou gh ap p rop riate assessm ent
p rac tic es and c ollab orations w ith f am ilies in order to design ef f ec tiv e instru c tion. Th ey need to adap t
and refine instruction as appropriate for individual learners. Information about meeting the needs of
Collaboration: A N ecessity
F req u ent and m eaningf u l c ollab oration w ith c olleagu es and p arents/ f am ilies is c ritic al f or
ensu ring th at all stu dents m eet th e ex p ec tations of th e C A C C S S f or E L A / L iterac y and th e C A
E L D S tandards. Teac h ers are at th eir b est w h en th ey f req u ently c ollab orate w ith th eir teac h ing
c olleagu es to p lan instru c tion, analy z e stu dents w ork , disc u ss stu dents p rogress, integrate
new learning into their practice, and refine lessons or identify interventions when students
experience difficulties. Students are at their best when teachers enlist the collaboration of
p arents and f am ilies and th e stu dents th em selv es as p artners in th eir edu c ation. S c h ools
are at th eir b est w h en edu c ators are su p p orted b y adm inistrators and oth er su p p ort staf f
to im p lem ent th e ty p e of instru c tion c alled f or in th is ELA/ELD Framework. S c h ool distric ts
are at th eir b est w h en teac h ers ac ross th e distric t h av e an ex p anded p rof essional learning
c om m u nity th ey c an rely u p on as th ou gh tf u l p artners and f or tangib le instru c tional resou rc es.
M ore inf orm ation ab ou t th ese ty p es of c ollab oration c an b e f ou nd in c h ap ter 11 and
th rou gh ou t th is ELA/ELD Framework.
KeyThemesofELA/LiteracyandELDInstructionin
Kindergarten
Kindergarten E L A / literac y and E L D instru c tion sh ou ld b e age- ap p rop riate, c aref u lly seq u enc ed,
th ou gh tf u lly p lanned, and f oc u sed on c lear ob j ec tiv es and needs. F u rth erm ore, instru c tion sh ou ld
oc c u r in an env ironm ent th at is resp onsiv e to th e soc ial, em otional, p h y sic al, lingu istic , and
c ognitiv e needs of y ou ng c h ildren as it c onv ey s th e th rill of b ec om ing literate. Th is sec tion inc lu des
disc u ssions of th e k ey th em es of E L A / L iterac y and E L D instru c tion as th ey ap p ly to k indergarten:
M eaning M ak ing , L ang uag e Dev elopment, Effectiv e Ex pression, Content K now ledg e,
and F oundational Sk ills. (See figure 3.20.) These themes are
KindergartenELA/literacy situ ated in a m otiv ating, engaging, resp ec tf u l, and intellec tu ally
andELDinstruction c h allenging c ontex t, and th ey are integrated ac ross th e c u rric u la.
Childrens achievement of the grade-level standards reflected
shouldbeage in th ese th em es are a p relim inary and essential step tow ard
appropriate,carefully th eir u ltim ate realiz ation of th e ov erarc h ing goals of E L A / literac y
sequenced,thoughtfully and E L D instru c tion: S tu dents dev elop th e readiness f or c ollege,
planned,andfocused c areers, and c iv ic lif e; attain th e c ap ac ities of literate indiv idu als;
onclearobjectivesand and ac q u ire th e sk ills f or liv ing and learning in th e c om p lex ,
inf orm ation and tec h nologic ally ric h , and glob al w orld of th e 2 1st
needs.
c entu ry . M oreov er, th e E L A / literac y instru c tion c alled f or in th is
Meaning Making
As discussed throughout this framework, meaning making is
central in each of the strands of the CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy and in
all aspects of the CA ELD Standards. In this section, the focus is on
meaning making with text.
Meaning Making with Text
Enjoying text, appreciating its role in daily life, and learning
from it are goals of reading instruction. Thus, meaning makingor
comprehension (see figure 2.6 in chapter 2)is crucial and is a
dominant focus of the ELA/literacy program. In the kindergarten
year, comprehension instruction occurs primarily during times when
the teacher is reading aloud to the entire group, small groups,
or individuals. While reading aloud, teachers regularly engage
in thinking aloud, initially with simple texts and eventually with more challenging texts. In doing
so, teachers model the strategies they employ to make sense of print. For example, knowing that
predicting is an effective comprehension strategy, teachers occasionally pause as they read aloud to
comment on what they anticipate will happen next. Importantly, they provide their reasons for their
Figure 3.21. Story Map for U ncle Peter s Amaz ing Chinese W edding by Lenore Look
Characters A young girl, her Uncle Peter, his fiance Stella, and family members
Setting U nc le P eter s h om e and S tella s h om e on th eir w edding day
Problem P eter is getting m arried and h is niec e w orries th at sh e w ill no longer b e h is
sp ec ial girl.
Action Th e girl p artic ip ates in th e w edding ac tiv ities, delib erately ru ins th e
w edding tea, tells h er m oth er h er f ears, and th e w edding oc c u rs.
R esolution S tella tells th e y ou ng girl sh e is h ap p y to h av e a new niec e. U nc le P eter
c alls h er h is sp ec ial girl.
T heme Th ere is no lim it on p eop le s lov e.
W h en teac h ers engage c h ildren w ith interesting stories and entertaining p oetry , and w h en th ey
p iq u e c h ildren s c u riosity and m odel enth u siasm f or and attention to ideas and c raf t, th ey are h elp ing
c h ildren u nderstand th e p u rp ose of p rinted m aterials: to c om m u nic ate ideas. C h ildren learn th at b ook s
and oth er p rinted m edia are interesting, entertaining, and instru c tiv e.
J u st as th ey h av e m any ex p erienc es engaging w ith literary tex ts ( su c h as stories and p oem s) ,
k indergarten c h ildren sh ou ld h av e m any op p ortu nities to ac tiv ely engage in grou p reading ac tiv ities
f oc u sed on a range of inf orm ational tex t. Th ey learn to draw on p rior k now ledge relev ant to th e
inf orm ation and ev ents in tex ts and to u se th e illu strations and c ontex t to m ak e p redic tions ab ou t tex t.
To su p p ort E L stu dents in ask ing q u estions, teac h ers also m odel h ow to ask initial q u estions ( Why
are bees extraordinary?) and f ollow u p q u estions ( Can you say more? Can you explain how/why?) and
enc ou rages stu dents to ask th ese sam e ty p es of q u estions to ex tend th eir c onv ersations, rath er th an
m erely say ing one sentenc e.
When students are first learning a routine like think-pair- Teachersensureequityof
sh are, teac h ers ty p ic ally b egin w ith a single sentenc e and
m odel resp onses. O v er tim e, teac h ers enc ou rage c h ildren
participationindiscussion
to h av e m ore ex tended c onv ersations ab ou t th e c ontent. activitiesbyproviding
C h ildren ask , as w ell as answ er, m u ltip le q u estions to structuredroutinesand
ex c h ange ideas. frequentopportunitiesfor
Teac h ers enc ou rage p arents and oth er c aregiv ers of E L studentstointeractwithtexts
c h ildren to read alou d of ten ( in th e p rim ary langu age and, andpeers.
to th e ex tent p ossib le, in E nglish ) and ask in th e p rim ary
langu age th e sam e ty p es of q u estions ask ed du ring sc h ool
read alou ds. I n addition to f ostering b iliterac y , th e dev elop m ent of c om p reh ension sk ills in th e p rim ary
langu age enh anc es c om p reh ension in E nglish b ec au se th ese ty p es of sk ills transf er ac ross langu ages.
Q uestions that L imit L ang uag e Q uestions that Elicit L ang uag e
Th e f oc u s on oral langu age dev elop m ent in E nglish is im p ortant f or all c h ildren, b u t it is c ritic al
f or E L s and c h ildren w h o h av e not b een ex p osed elsew h ere to th e k ind of langu age f ou nd in w ritten
tex ts ( D ic k inson and S m ith 19 9 4 ) . D u ring k indergarten, E L c h ildren m ak e trem endou s grow th in
th eir E nglish langu age dev elop m ent w h en teac h ers p ay attention to h ow langu age w ork s and b u ild
c h ildren s langu age aw areness. C h ildren w h o are aw are of th e v ariou s ty p es of langu age resou rc es
av ailab le to th em ( e. g. , w h en to u se prance v ersu s strut or h ow to add details to a sentenc e w ith
a p rep ositional p h rase, su c h as at my house) and how these resources are used to achieve specific
p u rp oses f or p artic u lar au dienc es are ab le to m ak e m ore inf orm ed c h oic es w h en sp eak ing and w riting.
O ral langu age dev elop m ent in th e p rim ary langu age sh ou ld also b e p rom oted and f ostered, w h eth er
in an alternativ e b ilingu al p rogram , an ex trac u rric u lar h eritage langu age p rogram , or in th e h om e w ith
c lose c ollab oration and su p p ort p rov ided b y teac h ers.
V ocabulary I nstruction
Teac h ers ensu re v oc ab u lary instru c tion is a k ey c om p onent of th e k indergarten p rogram . Th ey
im p lem ent eac h of th e f ou r asp ec ts of v oc ab u lary instru c tion desc rib ed in c h ap ter 2 : Th ey p rov ide
ex tensiv e ex p erienc es w ith langu age, estab lish w ord c onsc iou s env ironm ents, teac h targeted
v oc ab u lary , and p rov ide instru c tion in w ord- learning strategies.
E x tensiv e ex p erienc es w ith langu age are desc rib ed
in th e p rev iou s sec tion in th e c ontex t of ov erall langu age
dev elop m ent. C h ildren h av e nu m erou s op p ortu nities to Wordconsciousenvironments
c onv erse w ith p eers and adu lts w h ile th ey engage in arethoseinwhichchildrenand
stim u lating learning ex p erienc es, p artic ip ate in stru c tu red
adultsnoticeanddiscusswords.
disc u ssions, and listen to and disc u ss b ook s read alou d.
Childrenmaycreatewordwalls,
W ord c onsc iou s env ironm ents are th ose in w h ic h
c h ildren and adu lts notic e and disc u ss w ords. C h ildren m ay wordjars,orwordjournalsin
c reate w ord w alls, w ord j ars, or w ord j ou rnals in w h ic h whichtheyrecordwordsthat
th ey rec ord w ords th at are im p ortant, f asc inating, or th at areimportant,fascinating,or
oth erw ise c ap tu re th eir attention. Th ey talk ab ou t w ords in thatotherwisecapturetheir
dif f erent c ontex ts, and notic e relationsh ip s am ong w ords attention.
and sim ilarities am ong w ords in dif f erent langu ages. Th ey
th ink ab ou t au th or s c h oic es and th eir ow n c h oic es. Th eir
aw areness of w ords is h eigh tened.
Effective Expression
Adults experience more success in college, careers, and
civic participation when they can express their opinions and
knowledge clearly and coherently. Kindergarten programs
contribute to the stair-step development of effective expression
by ensuring that students are provided excellent instruction in
writing, discussing, and presenting, as well as in using language
conventions.
Writing
Childrens emerging writing abilities are exciting to observe.
These abilities develop within a writing-rich environment with
instruction that carefully guides and supports children as they
learn to write. Children learn to write as their teachers share
excellent examples of writing, model writing themselves, provide
numerous opportunities for children to respond in writing to texts and learning experiences across
content areas, and provide explicit instruction.
A great deal of writing in kindergarten occurs when childrenas an entire class, in small groups,
or as individualsdictate their ideas to an adult who records them. Children also express themselves
in writing independently, beginning with marks and scribbles that soon become strings of letters.
Eventually, as they learn about the sound structure of language (that is, they become phonemically
aware) and about the symbols that represent sounds (that is, the letters of the alphabet), children
begin to use that knowledge in their writing. Words are phonetically spelled at this stage of learning.
This is an important milestone representing childrens growing understanding of the alphabetic
principlecrucial for independence in both writing and reading. Children who are deaf and hard of
hearing whose primary language is American Sign Language (ASL) follow a different path. Skills in
ASL, fingerspelling, reading, and writing are interwoven, and the merging of these skills enables
the development of the alphabetic principle for students who are deaf (Visual Language and Visual
Learning Science of Learning Center 2010).
In kindergarten, teachers do the following to support childrens writing development:
Annotation
Th e w riter of th is p iec e
estab lish es a situ ation b y nam ing a p lac e.
- Disnand ( D isney land)
rec ou nts sev eral loosely link ed ev ents and th e order in w h ic h th ey oc c u rred.
- I had a fun on vacshne ( v ac ation) . . . . I see lot ( lots) of rids ( rides) . I went on the mader hon
( M atterh orn) . . . . I went my house.
p rov ides a reac tion to w h at h ap p ened.
- I had a fun on vacshne ( v ac ation) .
of f ers a sense of c losu re.
- I went my house.
dem onstrates c om m and of som e of th e c onv entions of standard w ritten E nglish .
- Th is p iec e illu strates c onsistent c ontrol of b eginning- of - sentenc e c ap italiz ation and end- of - sentenc e
p u nc tu ation. Th e w riter also u ses c ap ital letters ap p rop riately in th e title of th e p iec e.
Source
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. 2010b. Common
Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical
Subjects. Appendix C, 910. N ational Gov ernors A ssoc iation C enter f or B est P rac tic es, C ou nc il of C h ief S tate
School Officers, Washington DC.
indiv idu ally and som e are c ollab orativ e endeav ors. S ee th e
Content Knowledge
The kindergarten program includes thoughtful, systematic attention
to the content areas, guided by Californias subject matter content
standards and adopted instructional materials. Teachers provide
instruction in the subject matter and involve children in investigations,
experiments, and explorations. In addition, to enhance both literacy
learning and content learning, teachers provide children with many
opportunities for wide reading (largely through teacher read alouds),
meaningful interactions with informational texts, and participation in
shared research projects. See previous content knowledge sections
in this chapter. See also chapter 2 for a discussion of wide and
independent reading.
Foundational Skills
In kindergarten, children gain an understanding of print concepts,
develop phonological awareness, and acquire initial phonics and
word recognition skills (RF.K.13). In addition, they develop fluency
appropriate for this level (RF.K.4). These foundational skills are vital
for independence with written language, and instructional programs
include a clear systematic focus on their development.
Print Concepts
Although many children enter kindergarten with an understanding
of print concepts, some do not. The amount of attention devoted to this
reading substrand of the CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy necessarily depends
upon the learners existing knowledge. By the end of kindergarten, all
children should acquire an understanding of the organization and basic
features of print (RF.K.1), including (a) printed English is read and written from left to right and
Standard 2 Ex amples
a. R ec ogniz e and p rodu c e rh y m ing Recognize: Th ey indic ate th at fish and dish rh y m e
w ords. and th at fish and plate do not.
Produce: Th ey nam e w ords th at rh y m e w ith a target
w ord, say ing sun or bun w h en ask ed f or a w ord th at
rh y m es w ith run.
c . B lend and segm ent onsets and Blend: Th ey say spin w h en ask ed to b lend into a
rim es of single- sy llab le sp ok en w ord. w ord th e sep arately sp ok en onset and rim e / sp / and
/ in/ .
Segment: Th ey say / m / - / an/ w h en ask ed to say th e
first sound in the spoken word man and th en th e
rest of th e w ord.
d. I solate and p ronou nc e th e initial, Initial: They say /f/ when asked the first phoneme in
medial vowel, and final sounds th e orally p resented w ord food.
( p h onem es) in th ree- p h onem e Final: They say /t/ when asked the final phoneme in
( c onsonant- v ow el- c onsonant) w ords. th e w ord hot.
Medial: They say // when asked the medial
p h onem e in th e orally p resented w ord dog.
[ N ote: I solating th e m edial v ow el is m ore
difficult than isolating the initial or final phonemes
and generally w ill b e addressed af ter c h ildren
successfully isolate initial and final phonemes.]
e. Add or substitute individual sounds Add: They say sand when asked to add the
(phonemes) in simple, one-syllable phoneme /s/ to the beginning of the spoken word
words to make new words. and. They say beet when asked to add the phoneme
/t/ to the end of the spoken word be.
Substitute: They say lit when asked to change the
/s/ in the word sit to /l/. They say hop when asked
to change the /t/ at the end of the spoken word hot
to /p/.
[Note: Children will need to delete sounds before
substituting them. Thus, children can say me when
asked to say meat without the final /t/ sound.]
f. Blend two to three phonemes Blend two phonemes: They say zoo when asked to
into recognizable words. (CA blend into a word the separately spoken phonemes
addition) /z/-/oo/.
Blend three phonemes: They say cat when asked to
blend into a word the separately spoken phonemes
/c/-//-/t/.
These skills are learned through direct instruction and ample opportunities to reflect on and
manipulate the sounds of language in playful contexts. Sometimes children respond with nonsense
words while engaging in phonological awareness activities. For example, when asked to name
something that rhymes with plate, they say yate. Such responses are not incorrect, phonologically
speaking. Plate and yate do, indeed, rhyme. Clearly, the child who offers this response understands
rhyme. Teachers should respond in the affirmative and then, as appropriate, address whether yate is a
real word. (In some circles, it is a combination of yeah and great.)
Suggestions for instruction are presented in the transitional kindergarten section of this chapter.
Many of the same activities are appropriate with kindergarteners; the pace, increased intentionality,
and expectation of achievement of the standards mark the difference between instruction for
transitional kindergarteners and kindergarteners.
Phonics and Word Recognition
The kindergarten curriculum fosters childrens knowledge of and ability to apply grade-level
phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words both in isolation and in text (RF.K.3ad). Children
achieve the standards displayed in 3.25 by the end of the year. These standards build from knowledge
of print concepts, especially knowledge of letters (i.e., recognizing and naming the letters) (RF.K.1d).
(See the transitional kindergarten section of this chapter for guidance on teaching letters.)
Standard 3 Ex ample
b . A ssoc iate th e long and sh ort sou nds Vowels: W h en c h ildren see th e p rinted letter A or a,
w ith c om m on sp ellings ( grap h em es) they indicate that it may represent // or // (the long
for the five major vowels. ( I dentify or sh ort v ow el sou nd) . *
which letters represent the five
maj or v ow els [ Aa, Ee, I i, O o,
and U u] and k now the long and
short sound of each v ow el. M ore
complex long v ow el g raphemes
and spelling s are targ eted in the
grade 1 phonics standards.) (CA
addition)
c . R ead c om m on h igh - f req u enc y w ords W h en c h ildren see selec ted h igh - f req u enc y w ords in
b y sigh t ( e. g. , the, of, to, you, she, p rint ( b oth in isolation and in tex t) , th ey say th e w ords.
my, is, are, do, does) .
d. D istingu ish b etw een sim ilarly sp elled C h ildren k now w h ic h of th e f ollow ing tw o p rinted
w ords b y identif y ing th e sou nds of w ords is man b y ex am ining th e w ords and u sing th eir
th e letters th at dif f er. k now ledge of th e letter- sou nd c orresp ondenc es: man
fan
* V ow els m ay , of c ou rse, rep resent sou nds oth er th an th e long and sh ort sou nds, b u t th ose are not th e f oc u s of th is
standard in k indergarten.
in E nglish and th e p rim ary langu age. Th e dev elop m ent of asdifficultywithdecoding.
C h ildren w h o are deaf and do not h av e au ditory ac c ess to sp ok en langu age f ac e c h allenges w h en
ask ed to p ronou nc e w ords b ec au se th ey c annot h ear th em selv es or sp ok en langu age m odels in th eir
env ironm ent. R ath er th an f oc u sing on th e p ronu nc iation of th e w ords, teac h ers c h ec k th e stu dent s
v oc ab u lary c om p reh ension.
AnIntegratedandInterdisciplinaryApproach
A s disc u ssed in th e ov erv iew of th e sp an sec tion in th is c h ap ter, th e C A C C S S f or E L A / L iterac y and
th e C A E L D S tandards c all f or an integration of reading, w riting, sp eak ing, and listening. F u rth erm ore,
th ese tw o sets of standards are inex tric ab ly link ed to ev ery c u rric u lar area. L earning su b j ec t m atter
req u ires th at stu dents u nderstand and u se th e langu age of th e su b j ec t to c om p reh end, c larif y , and
c om m u nic ate c onc ep ts. Th e f ollow ing snap sh ots illu strate h ow th is integration of E L A w ith oth er
c ontent areas p lay s ou t in k indergarten c lassroom s.
The kindergarteners in Mr. Kravitzs classroom listen to several informational and literary
texts about the importance of caring for the environment and the impact litter has on local
habitats. Mr. Kravitz guides a discussion about this type of pollution, askingand encouraging
the children to askquestions about the information they are learning from the texts. He
prepares them for paired as well as large group conversations about what they are learning by
revisiting the texts and images, and drawing attention to some of the vocabulary that may be
particularly useful for their discussions. For example, he reviews and writes on a chart some of
the general academic (e.g., discard, accumulate, observe, impact) and domain-specific (e.g.,
habitat, pollute, litter) vocabulary from the texts that convey important ideas.
Next he has students meet in pairs to talk about what they have learned. Many of them
refer to the chart to remind themselves and each other about the concepts and accompanying
vocabulary. After sharing in pairs, the children gather in small groups to draw and label
illustrations about what they learned and discussed. They work collaboratively, talking about
their understandings and making decisions about their illustrations and the words they will
use to label them. After each group presents and explains a labeled illustration to the entire
class, the illustrations are displayed on a bulletin board. Next the children identify three areas
of the school grounds where they can examine litter in their school environment. They identify
the location where students are dropped off and picked up, the outdoor lunch area, and the
playground. For five days in a row, teams count (and safely collect and discard) individual
items during the final half hour of school and record the count in each area on a chart.
At the end of the week, the children determine which area accumulated the most trash by
adding the daily counts. Mr. Kravitz leads a discussion about their findings and guides children
to think about the consequences of the litter in these locations and possible actions they
can take to change the amount of litter accumulating in these places. Some of the children
say that the litter makes their school ugly. Others mention the potential danger to their own
health and that of the birds and other animals who visit their school. Together, with Mr. Kravitz
serving as scribe, they jointly craft a letter to the principal, incorporating some of the special
terminology used in their discussions and readings. After carefully revising and editing it as a
group with teacher assistance, they invite the principal to the class to share their findings and
present their letter to her.
The students in Ms. Millers class are familiar with young Davids antics in David Shannons
picture book, No, David! They have chuckled with Ms. Miller over the story and illustrations
many times. This week, Ms. Miller reads aloud Shannons sequel, David Goes to School,
in which young David breaks one classroom rule after another. With support, the children
identify and discuss the main ideas of the narrative conveyed in the text and illustrations at
appropriate points.
Ms. Miller asks text-dependent questions to guide the childrens comprehension and critical
analysis of the story. She returns to the story with them to locate specific language in the text
that addresses these questions:
What are the school rules in this book?
Who is the author? Do you think the author believes that it is important to have rules
at school and in the classrooms? Why?
What does David think of the rules? Does he think they are important? How do you
know?
What lessons do you think the author wants us to learn about rules that we can apply
to our own school?
Lets compare the rules in our school with the rules in Davids school. Which are similar
and which are different?
To further develop students critical thinking, Ms. Miller asks students to reflect on
the rules in their own classroom. She refers to the posted list of classroom rules that the
children helped develop early in the school year and encourages them to engage in brief,
small group conversations to consider whether any rules need to be changed or new ones
added. Knowing that some of the children need scaffolding to convey their thoughts, she
provides an optional sentence frame (We should add/change ___________ as a rule because
____________________________.) to help them answer the following questions:
What rules in our classroom would you like to change? Why?
What rules in our classroom would you like to add? Why?
Ms. Miller considers changing or adding one or more of the classroom rules so that the
children recognize that their views have impact.
Resources
Shannon, David. 1998. No, David! New York: Blue Sky Press.
Shannon, David. 1999. David Goes to School. New York: Scholastic.
Mr. Hunt often provides opportunities for his kindergarteners to explore science concepts
using toy models or real objects (e.g., real earthworms and soil, toys with wheels). The
children in his class observe the natural world (e.g., in the school garden, at a science literacy
station) and record and discuss their observations with one another. He also reads aloud many
informational texts, and he shows videos that convey information on the science concepts
under study. Each day, he has his students write (or dictate) and draw about what they are
learning in their science journals. Some of the language in the science texts, such as domain-
specific vocabulary (e.g., soil, root, stem, germination, sprout), general academic vocabulary
(e.g., emerge, develop, delicate), and prepositional phrases (e.g., in the ground, for three
weeks) is new for his EL children.
Mr. Hunt provides structured opportunities for EL students to use new language they are
learning in meaningful ways in both science and designated ELD time. For example, during a
science unit on insects, he asks the children to use models of insects as well as refer to notes
and labels they have recorded in their science observation logs to describe or explain the
science concepts they are learning about to classmates. For example, they discuss structure
and function of insect anatomy, behavior, habitat). He prompts the children to use domain-
specific vocabulary (e.g., antennae, wings, abdomen), and he supports their speech and
writing with open sentence frames that target particular grammatical structures (e.g., When
the bee lands on the flower, ___).
Mr. Hunt differentiates instruction depending on the group he is working with. For
example, with all of the children during designated ELD, he discusses ways in which they can
select language resources and expand and enrich their ideas to be more precise and detailed
when they orally describe the insects they are learning about. For students at the Emerging
level of English language proficiency, he structures opportunities for them to use precise,
domain-specific words (e.g., larva, thorax) when they describe their ideas; add a familiar
adjective (e.g., big, small, green) to their modify nouns; and use simple prepositional phrases
(e.g., on the leaf) to add detail to their sentences.
He shows EL students at the Expanding level how to expand and enrich their ideas in
increasingly complex ways. For example, he shows them how to add the prepositional phrases
with full pollen baskets and around the flowers to the sentence The bee is flying. This creates
the more detailed sentence, The bee with full pollen baskets is flying around the flowers.
He discusses the meaning of these sentences, provides the children with many
opportunities to experiment with orally expanding and enriching their ideas in similar ways,
and shows them where these types of sentences occur in the texts he is reading to them.
He also works with the children to connect their ideas by combining sentences with
coordinating conjunctions. He guides children at the Emerging level of language proficiency to
construct the following types of compound sentences:
Bees are insects. Bees make honey. Bees are insects, and they make honey.
When he works with his EL students at the Expanding level of English language
proficiency, he guides them to construct the following types of complex sentences:
Bees are insects. Bees make honey. Bees are insects that make honey.
In ELA and science, Mr. Hunt encourages his EL students to use the language they have
been learning in designated ELD for both oral and written tasks. For example, when the
students write about the observations they have made in the garden, Mr. Hunt prompts them
to expand and enrich their sentences, as well as to connect them.
New Horizons Academy is a Two-Way Bilingual Education TK12 school with the goals
of developing students bilingualism, biliteracy, high academic achievement in both English
and Spanish, and cross-cultural understanding. When they enter the TK and kindergarten
programs, about one-third of the schools students are Spanish-dominant, about one-third
are English-dominant, and about one-third are English-proficient bilingual (Spanish-English)
from homes where both languages are spoken. By the time they graduate, all students receive
Californias Seal of Biliteracy. Recognizing that Spanish-dominant students who develop
advanced literacy in Spanish are more successful in both English and Spanish, the school has
a strong commitment to fully developing both advanced Spanish and English throughout the
high school years.
Social justice and cultural awareness are major emphases at the school. Beginning in the
earliest years, students learn about how to care deeply about themselves and others. Not
only do they develop language and literacy in their primary language and in English, they also
learn about their own and others cultures and about issues affecting their community and
the world. Beginning in the upper elementary grades, students go with their teachers to the
local homeless shelter to donate food from the schools urban farming program. In middle and
high school, all students form leadership teams that work together to design and implement
community-based, social justice projects to benefit the school and local community. Examples
of the projects include cleaning the beaches; tending urban gardens; participating in support
and alliance groups (e.g., LGBT, Dreamers); building community awareness about local, state,
national, and world issues; participating in political campaigns and other types of socially
responsive programs. Teachers support these projects across the curricula, and parents and
families are integral to these efforts. Each member of the school community (students, parents
and family members, educators) is expected to embrace the guiding principles represented by
the schools Mandala Commitments:
New Horizons Academy Mandala Commitments
Mandala means circle in Sanskrit and represents wholeness in Hindu and Buddhist
traditions. It is a model for the organizational structure of life, reminding us of our relation to
the world that extends both beyond and within our bodies and minds.
Community: We are able and willing to express our ideas, beliefs and feelings; to hear and
respect the ideas, feelings, and beliefs of others. We take responsibility for the life of our
community.
Empowerment: We claim our power to define ourselves and to struggle for liberty.
Well-Being: We nurture our minds, bodies, and spirits by practicing healthy habits.
Creativity: We express our uniqueness, imagine new possibilities, shape ourselves, and
impact the world.
Love: We care deeply about ourselves and others and express caring through our actions.
Inquiry: We constantly seek understanding by asking questions of ourselves and of the
world around us.
Scholars: We are critical thinkers engaged in a lifelong pursuit of knowledge.
Activists: We envision a just and humane world, strive to make it real, and inspire others to
do the same.
Courage: We have the strength to recognize and challenge our fears.
(Adapted from Los Angeles Leadership Academy)
Most of the designated ELD instruction in kindergarten focuses on engaging students to join
in the experience of teacher read alouds of storybooks. Through these interactive read aloud
experiences, the children engage in extended conversations in response to text-dependent
questions and have repeated exposure to the rich vocabulary in the books. The children discuss
and write their opinions and ideas about the stories, and their teachers explicitly teach them
some of the general academic vocabulary from the books so that they can use this language
in related speaking and writing contexts. During designated ELD time, the teachers reinforce
(but do not introduce for the first time) concepts of print, phonological awareness, and phonics
in English. The school has made a commitment to include intentional and explicit teaching of
transferable and non-transferable skills beginning in kindergarten and has a well-articulated
plan for gradually developing EL (and other) students English language and literacy skills from
early childhood through the elementary years and beyond. All students learn to read and write
primarily in Spanish first, but they also learn critical literacy skills in English early on so that
when they begin to engage with increasingly complex literacy tasks in English, they will have
the language and literacy skills necessary to succeed. The teachers use the following principles
when they plan lessons for engaging their EL children in rich storybook read alouds during
designated ELD time. Each story takes about a week to teach.
Book Choice: Choose books that lend themselves to extended discussions and that contain
many general academic vocabulary words. Frequently use culturally relevant books as well as
bilingual books.
Repetition and Interaction: Read the story several times during the week, delving
into different aspects of the story each day. Ask a few text-dependent questions for literal
comprehension (first day) and inferential comprehension (other days). Use open sentence
frames, appropriate for the questions and adjusted to the childrens language learning needs
(not too easy, and not too hard).
Vocabulary: Stop at strategic points to explain word meanings, act out (with gestures and
facial expressions) the words, or point to an illustration for the word, and have the children
repeat the words chorally. Choose a limited set of general academic words (three to five) to
teach explicitly after reading the story. (Also explicitly teach everyday English words that the
children do not know and that are essential to understanding the story and discussing it.)
Repetitive Phrases: Choose two to three repetitive phrases that are essential to
understanding the story and are fun to say, and have the children join along in chanting the
phrases when the phrases arise.
Primary Language: Use the childrens primary language, when appropriate, to facilitate
story comprehension and vocabulary development.
English Foundational Skills: Strategically reinforce English foundational skills (e.g.,
concepts about print, rhyming words, sounds in English that do not transfer to Spanish and
those that do) while reading or jointly constructing texts about the story.
During Writing Workshop, the kindergarten teachers notice that the EL children (and other
dual language learners) usually choose to write in Spanish. Sometimes, however, they choose
to write in English or to write bilingual stories. The teachers continue to encourage all of the
children to develop sophisticated understandings of both Spanish and English and to use the
language skills, abilities, and knowledge they develop in designated ELD throughout the day.
Additional Information
Web sites
Dual Language of New Mexico maintains an extensive array of resources for dual language programs: http://
www.dlenm.org/.
Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) provides resources for two-way immersion and dual language educators:
http://www.cal.org.
Colorn Colorado has many resources for teachers and parents that support dual language development: http://
www.colorincolorado.org/.
Bilingual Learning (a project of Southern California Public Radio, http://www.scpr.org/) has many examples
of dual language education programs (including a map for finding California bilingual programs), as well as
research and information: http://projects.scpr.org/bilinguallearning/.
Some additional examples of California Bilingual Programs are the following:
Semillas Community Schools: http://www.dignidad.org/
Los Angeles Leadership Academy: http://www.laleadership.org
Recommended reading
Gillanders, Cristina, and Dina Castro. 2011. Storybook Reading for Young English Language Learners. Young
Children. January: 91-95. (http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/201101/GillandersOnline0111.pdf).
Howard, Elizabeth R., Julie Sugarman, Donna Christian, Katherine J. Lindholm-Leary, and Rogers, D. 2007. Guiding
Principles for Dual Language Education. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics. (http://www.cal.
org/twi/guidingprinciples.htm).
Naqvi, Rahat, Anne McKeough, Keoma Thorne, and Christina Pfitscher. 2012. Dual-Language Books as an
Emergent-Literacy Resource: Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teaching and Learning. Journal of Early
Childhood Literacy 13 (4): 501-528. (http://ecl.sagepub.com/content/13/4/501.refs).
Additional examples of designated ELD linked to different content areas are provided in the
transitional kindergarten and grade one sections of this chapter and, with older students, in
chapters 47.
F raming Q uestions for All Students Add for Eng lish L earners
W h at are th e b ig ideas and c u lm inating p erf orm anc e W h at are th e E nglish langu age
task s of th e larger u nit of stu dy , and h ow does th is lesson proficiency levels of my
b u ild tow ard th em ? stu dents?
W h at are th e learning targets f or th is lesson, and w h at W h ic h C A E L D S tandards am p lif y
sh ou ld stu dents b e ab le to do at th e end of th e lesson? th e C A C C S S f or E L A / L iterac y
W h ic h c lu sters of C A C C S S f or E L A / L iterac y does th is at stu dents E nglish langu age
lesson address? proficiency levels?
W h at b ac k grou nd k now ledge, sk ills, and ex p erienc es do W h at langu age m igh t b e new
m y stu dents h av e related to th is lesson? f or stu dents and/ or p resent
c h allenges?
H ow c om p lex are th e tex ts and task s?
H ow w ill stu dents interac t in
H ow w ill stu dents m ak e m eaning, ex p ress th em selv es m eaningf u l w ay s and learn
ef f ec tiv ely , dev elop langu age, and learn c ontent? H ow w ill ab ou t h ow E nglish w ork s in
th ey ap p ly or learn f ou ndational sk ills? c ollab orativ e, interp retiv e,
W h at ty p es of sc af f olding, ac c om m odations, or and/ or p rodu c tiv e m odes?
modifications will individual students need for effectively
engaging in th e lesson task s?
H ow w ill m y stu dents and I m onitor learning du ring and
af ter th e lesson, and h ow w ill th at inf orm instru c tion?
Back g round
M r. N gu y en reads alou d to h is stu dents daily du ring E L A instru c tion. H e intentionally
selec ts story b ook s th at h av e an engaging and f u n p lot b ec au se su c h b ook s p rom ote ex tended
disc u ssions. H e also ensu res th at h is 3 0 k indergarteners, h alf of th em E L s, are ex p osed to
b ook s c ontaining ric h langu age, inc lu ding ac adem ic v oc ab u lary . M ost of th e E L c h ildren in M r.
Nguyens class are at the Expanding level of English language proficiency. However, three are
new to th e U . S . and are at th e early E m erging lev el. Th ree of h is stu dents h av e m oderate
intellec tu al disab ilities, and M r. N gu y en w ork s c losely w ith th e sc h ool sp ec ialist to ensu re h e is
attending to th eir soc io- em otional and c ognitiv e learning needs.
When he reads complex literary texts aloud, Mr. Nguyen incorporates specific instructional
strategies to h elp h is stu dents c onnec t p ersonally w ith th e stories, attend to sop h istic ated
langu ge, and dev elop listening c om p reh ension sk ills. To th e ex tent p ossib le, h e also look s u p
specific words and phrases in his EL students primary languages so that he can use them to
sc af f old th eir c om p reh ension of E nglish tex ts.
L esson Contex t
M r. N gu y en and h is c olleagu es c ollab orativ ely p lan th eir read alou d lessons and designated
ELD lessons that build into and from the read alouds. They have just designed a five-day
seq u enc e f or th e story Wolf, b y B ec k y B loom and P asc al B iet. Th e teac h ers p lan to read
Wolf to th eir stu dents th ree tim es ov er th ree c onsec u tiv e day s. E ac h tim e th ey read it alou d,
teac h ers w ill m odel su c c essf u l reading b eh av iors, draw ing attention to v oc ab u lary and
prompting students to discuss comprehension questions (at first mostly literal, right there
tex t- dep endent q u estions w ith answ ers th at c an c learly b e f ou nd easily in th e tex t and
inc reasingly inf erential q u estions as th e w eek p rogresses) . I n th e last tw o day s of th e lesson
sequence, the teachers will guide students to retell the story, first orally and then in writing.
Th e team s p lanning m ap f or th e w eek is as f ollow s:
Days 4 5
Gu ided ( w ith th e teac h er) or indep endent ( in p airs or grou p s) :
O ral retelling of th e original story
W ritten retelling of th e original story
A lternate v ersion of th e original story
A t th e end of th e w eek , M r. N gu y en w ill ask p airs of stu dents to c om p ose and illu strate
eith er a retelling of th e original story or an alternate v ersion of it ( e. g. , w ith dif f erent c h arac ters
or an alternate ending) . Th e learning target and c lu ster of C A C C S S f or E L A / L iterac y and
CA ELD Standards Mr. Nguyen is focusing on today, the first day of the lesson series, are the
f ollow ing:
L earning T arg et: S tu dents w ill listen to a story and disc u ss tex t- dep endent q u estions ab ou t
it. Th ey w ill p rac tic e b eing good c onv ersational p artners.
CA CCSS for EL A/ L iteracy: RL.K.1 With prompting and support, ask and answer
questions about key details in a text; RL.K.7 With prompting and support, describe the
relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a
story an illustration depicts); SL.K.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse
partners, follow agreed-upon rules, and continue a conversation through multiple exchanges;
SL.K.2 Confirm understanding of a text read aloud.
CA ELD Standards (Expanding): ELD.PI.K.1 Contribute to class, group, and partner
discussions by listening attentively, following turn-taking rules, and asking and answering
questions; ELD.PI.K.3 Offer opinions in conversations using an expanded set of learned
phrases (e.g., I think/dont think X. I agree with X.), as well as open responses, in order to
gain and/or hold the floor; ELD.PI.K.5 Demonstrate active listening to read-alouds and oral
presentations by asking and answering questions with oral sentence frames and occasional
prompting and support.
L esson Ex cerpt
On the first day, Mr. Nguyen invites his students to gather on the carpet to listen to the
story. He briefly previews the story problem sinc e th is is of ten c h allenging f or stu dents to
p erc eiv e on th eir ow n.
Mr. Nguyen: Today, youre going to meet a hungry wolf. At first, he wants to eat some
farm animals a cow, a pig, and a duck. But the farm animals are much
m ore interested in reading th eir b ook s, so th ey ignore h im . Th at m eans th ey
don t p ay attention to h im at all. H e doesn t lik e th at, and h e tries to get th em
to p ay attention to h im .
A s M r. N gu y en reads th e story , h is stu dents are v ery engaged, in large p art b ec au se th e
story is so w ell w ritten, b u t also b ec au se M r. N gu y en m odels enth u siasm b y reading w ith
intonation and ac ting ou t th e v oic es of th e interesting c h arac ters w h en th ere is dialogu e. H e
f req u ently inv ites th e c h ildren to read along w ith h im som e p artic u larly engaging p assages. F or
ex am p le, w h en th e p ig ex p lains to th e w olf th at th e f arm is f or edu c ated anim als, M r. N gu y en
inv ites th e c h ildren to say th e dialogu e togeth er.
M r. N gu y en: E du c ated anim als . . . E du c ated anim als! th e w olf rep eated to h im self . L et s
all rep eat th at togeth er, and let s say it lik e th e w olf w ou ld.
M r. N gu y en th ink s alou d as h e reads, m odeling h ow to m ak e inf erenc es at strategic p oints
in th e story and ex p osing th e c h ildren to general ac adem ic v oc ab u lary th at th ey m ay w ant to
u se w h en disc u ssing th e tex t later.
M r. N gu y en: I m th ink ing th at th e reason th e anim als aren t p ay ing attention to th e w olf is
b ec au se th ey re so engrossed, or interested in th eir b ook s. E v en th ou gh h e s
leaping and howling at th em , th ey re m ore interested in reading. I th ink th ey
m u st lov e to read and th at th ey re p rob ab ly reading really good b ook s!
A t one or tw o strategic p oints in th e story , M r. N gu y en stops and asks his students to think
ab ou t a tex t- dep endent q u estion h e p oses and th en p rom p ts th e stu dents to sh are th eir ideas
w ith a p artner. H is stu dents engage f req u ently in th ink - p air- sh are, tu rning to th eir designated
p artners to disc u ss ideas in th e tex t.
M r. N gu y en: Y ou v e got a long w ay to go. Th at m eans, y ou h av e a lot of w ork to do.
W h y do y ou th ink th e du c k told th e w olf , Y ou v e got a long w ay to go?
M r. N gu y en p oints to th e illu stration in th e b ook , w h ic h sh ow s th e w olf lab oriou sly reading
h is b ook ou t lou d, th e p ig annoy ed and glaring at h im , and th e oth er anim als ignoring h im . H e
h as f ou nd th at th is k ind of v isu al su p p ort h elp s stu dents w ith learning disab ilities as w ell as E L s
at th e early E m erging lev el to c om p reh end and to engage m ore ac tiv ely in p artner disc u ssions.
I t also h elp s all of th e c h ildren desc rib e th e relationsh ip s b etw een illu strations and th e p rint in
stories. A f ter M r. N gu y en p oses th e q u estion, h e is q u iet f or sev eral sec onds so h is stu dents
h av e tim e to th ink .
M r. N gy u en: N ow th at y ou h av e an idea, y ou c an u se th is sentenc e f ram e w h en y ou sh are
it with your partner. Listen to me first, and then well say it together: Maybe
th e anim als th ink th at _ _ _ _ . R em em b er to h elp y ou r p artner, add on to
w h at y ou r p artner say s, or ask a q u estion, if y ou need to. D on t stop y ou r
c onv ersation u ntil I c all th e c lass b ac k togeth er.
23 0 | C h ap ter 3 Kindergarten
V ig nette 3 . 3 . I nteractiv e Storybook R ead Aloud
Integrated ELA/Literacy and ELD Instruction in Kindergarten (cont.)
Th e c h ildren tak e tu rns sh aring th eir ideas w ith th eir p artners, and M r. N gu y en listens
c aref u lly . H e h as intentionally p lac ed h is E L s at th e early E m erging lev els nex t to f riends w h o
sp eak th e sam e p rim ary langu age, and h e enc ou rages th em to c om m u nic ate in th eir p rim ary
langu age as needed. H e also enc ou rages th em to u se gestu res ( e. g. , h and m otions and nodding)
and sim p le p h rases ( e. g. , I th ink . . . C an y ou say th at again? ) in order to p artic ip ate ac tiv ely in
th eir c onv ersations w ith p artners.
A lic ia: M ay b e th e anim als th ink th at, th ink th at . . . th e w olf . . .
S am : ( N odding in enc ou ragem ent and w aiting. )
A lic ia: M ay b e th e w olf is . . .
S am : M ay b e th e anim als th ink th at . . .
A lic ia: ( N odding) M ay b e th e anim als th ink th at th ey don t lik e h im . Y ou r tu rn.
S am : I c an add on to y ou b ec au se m ay b e th e anim als th ink th at h e don t read good.
A lic ia: Y eah . Th ey read good. Th ey only lik e to read.
S am : A nd th e w olf , h e don t read good lik e th em .
M r. N gu y en: ( S ignaling f or stu dents to f ac e h im . ) I am h earing som e great ideas. I h eard
som eone say th at m ay b e th e anim als th ink th at th e w olf doesn t read v ery w ell,
and th at s w h y th ey told h im h e h as a long w ay to go. H ere ( p ointing to th e
tex t) it say s th at th e anim als j u st k ep t on reading. I t seem s lik e th ey w eren t
ev en interested in h earing h im read. I t look s lik e th at s w h at s h ap p ening in th e
illu stration, too. M ay b e th at s w h at th e p ig m eans w h en h e say s y ou v e got a
long w ay to go. M ay b e th ey th ink W olf needs to p rac tic e reading a lot m ore,
or th at h e h as to p rac tic e reading f or a lot longer b ef ore h e c an read as w ell as
th ey do.
Th rou gh ou t th e story , M r. N gu y en p au ses w h en h e c om es to general ac adem ic v oc ab u lary
th at h is stu dents m ay not k now or m ay only p artially u nderstand. H e ac ts ou t som e of th e w ords
( e. g. , peer, budge) , p oints to illu strations in th e tex t f or oth ers ( e. g. , emerging), and briefly
ex p lains oth ers ( e. g. , educated, ignored, satisfied, impressed) .
M r. N gu y en: Y ou h av e improved, rem ark ed th e p ig. W h en y ou im p rov e, th at m eans y ou
get b etter at doing som eth ing.
At the end of the story, Mr. Nguyen asks a final question to stretch his students analytical
th ink ing.
M r. N gu y en: W h y do y ou th ink th at th e oth er anim als w ant W olf to k eep reading to th em
now ?
D u ring th e nex t tw o day s, w h en h e reads th e story alou d again, M r. N gu y en c ontinu es to
m odel good reading b eh av iors, f oc u sing on k ey v oc ab u lary and oth er ric h langu age ( e. g. , his
eyes were playing tricks on him) , and p rov iding m any op p ortu nities f or th e c h ildren to disc u ss
th eir c om p reh ension of th e tex t. B y th e th ird tim e M r. N gu y en reads th e b ook alou d, th e c h ildren
are ab le to disc u ss m ore analy tic al q u estions in ex tended w ay s. F or ex am p le, b y th e th ird day ,
th e c h ildren h av e a m ore nu anc ed u nderstanding of w h y th e anim als ignored th e w olf and c an
ex p lain th eir ideas m ore p rec isely ( e. g. , because he was acting in an uneducated way and
couldnt read like them) . Th ey are also ab le to p rov ide m ore ev idenc e in th eir resp onses to
q u estions lik e W h at do y ou th ink th e w olf learned b y th e end of th e story ? H ow do y ou k now ?
F or ex am p le, th ey note th at w olf s b eh av ior and ap p earanc e c h anged th rou gh ou t th e story .
Kindergarten C h ap ter 3 | 23 1
V ig nette 3 . 3 . I nteractiv e Storybook R ead Aloud
Integrated ELA/Literacy and ELD Instruction in Kindergarten (cont.)
Th rou gh ou t th e w eek , M r. N gu y en k eep s notes on w h at stu dents are say ing and doing.
S o th at h e c an strategic ally su p p ort stu dents w ith v aried needs, h is teac h ing log h as sec tions
f or notes regarding th ose w h o need su p p ort w ith listening c om p reh ension, th ose w ith sp ec ial
needs, and E L s. O n day f ou r, M r. N gu y en gu ides th e c h ildren in an oral retelling of th e story . O n
day five, he engages them in jointly reconstructing the story as he writes it for all to see using
a doc u m ent c am era. H e sc af f olds th eir u se of sop h istic ated langu age, h elp ing th em ex tend and
refine their ideas as they reconstruct the story together.
Teacher Reflection and Next Steps
A t th e end of th e w eek , M r. N gu y en rev iew s h is teac h ing log. H e notes th at du ring th e
initial reading of the story, his ELs at the early Emerging level of English language proficiency
stru ggled to c om m u nic ate in E nglish du ring th ink - p air- sh are, and th at tw o u sed th eir p rim ary
langu age to sh are ideas f or a c ou p le of th e q u estions. H ow ev er, b y th e th ird tim e h e read
the story, these students were speaking English more confidently, using short phrases and
integrating th e sentenc e f ram es h e h ad p rev iou sly p rov ided. H e m ak es a note to ask h is
c olleagu es f or ideas ab ou t su p p orting th ese stu dents to p artic ip ate m ore ac tiv ely in E nglish th e
first time a story is read. At the same time, he is pleased that students listened actively during
the first reading and that after hearing the story repeatedly, they were able to communicate
th eir ideas m ore readily in E nglish . R etu rning to h is notes, M r. N gu y en also sees th at th e th ree
c h ildren w ith m oderate learning disab ilities w ere v ery engaged du ring all th ree readings of th e
b ook , w h ic h h e attrib u tes in p art to th e delib erate sc af f olding and stru c tu re h e p rov ided.
M r. N gu y en sends h om e an inf orm ation sh eet in E nglish and in th e p rim ary langu age of
th e E L c h ildren w ith som e su ggestions f or h ow p arents m igh t interac t w ith th eir c h ildren w h ile
reading alou d to th em at h om e.
R esource
B loom , B ec k y , and P asc al B iet. 19 9 9 . Wolf. N ew Y ork : O rc h ard B ook s.
Sources
L esson insp ired b y
B ec k , I sab el. L . , and M argaret G. M c Keow n G. 2 0 0 7 . I nc reasing Y ou ng L ow - I nc om e C h ildren s O ral V oc ab u lary
R ep ertoires th rou gh R ic h A nd F oc u sed I nstru c tion. Elementary School Journal 10 (3): 251271.
M c Gee, L ea M . , and J u dith S c h ic k edanz . 2 0 0 7 . R ep eated I nterac tiv e R ead A lou ds in P resc h ool and Kindergarten.
The Reading Teacher 6 0 : 7 4 2 - 7 5 1.
O ta, Tam ay e, and P am ela S p y c h er. 2 0 11. Powerful Academic Vocabulary Instruction for Young English Learners.
P resented at th e annu al c onf erenc e of th e C alif ornia A ssoc iation f or th e E du c ation of Y ou ng C h ildren ( C A E Y C ) ,
S ac ram ento, C A , M arc h 2 0 11.
Additional I nformation
W eb sites
Colorn Colorado has read aloud tips for parents (h ttp : / / w w w . c olorinc olorado. org/ gu ides/ readingtip s/ ) in elev en
langu ages ( h ttp : / / w w w . c olorinc olorado. org) .
D . E . A . R . ( drop ev ery th ing and read) w ith f am ilies sh ort v ideo ( h ttp s: / / w w w . teac h ingc h annel. org/ )
R ecommended reading
M c Gee, L ea M . , and J u dith A . S c h ic k edanz . 2 0 0 7 . R ep eated I nterac tiv e R ead A lou ds in P resc h ool and Kindergarten.
The Reading Teacher, 60 (8): 742751. (h ttp : / / w w w . readingroc k ets. org/ artic le/ 16 2 8 7 ) .
23 2 | C h ap ter 3 Kindergarten
Desig nated EL D V ig nette
Th e ex am p le in th e E L A / literac y v ignette 3 . 3 illu strates good teac h ing f or all stu dents w ith a
particular focus on the needs of EL children and children with disabilities. In addition to good first
teaching, EL children benefit from intentional and purposeful designated ELD instruction, which
v ignette 3 . 4 illu strates.
Back g round
M r. N gu y en h as j u st read h is stu dents th e story Wolf b y B ec k y B loom and P asc al B iet ( see
v ignette 3 . 3 ) . D u ring th e interac tiv e read alou d, h e p au sed w h en h e c am e to sev eral general
ac adem ic v oc ab u lary w ords to p oint to illu strations sh ow ing th e m eanings of th e w ords or ac t
ou t or ex p lain th eir m eanings. D esp ite th is em b edded v oc ab u lary instru c tion, M r. N gu y en h as
ob serv ed th at m any of h is E L s h av e a h ard tim e u nderstanding or u sing th e w ords orally . H e
w ants all of h is stu dents to b e ab le to u nderstand th ese ty p es of w ords w h en h e reads th em
stories and u se th e w ords w h en th ey retell stories or c om p ose th eir ow n original stories. H e
ex p lic itly teac h es som e general ac adem ic v oc ab u lary du ring E L A instru c tion. H ow ev er, h e also
u ses p art of h is designated E L D tim e to teac h additional general ac adem ic w ords ex p lic itly so
th at h is E L stu dents c an rap idly b u ild th eir v oc ab u lary rep ertoires in w ay s th at are tailored to
their specific language learning needs.
L esson Contex t
M r. N gu y en and h is k indergarten teac h ing team p lan th eir v oc ab u lary lessons togeth er.
Th ey u se a stru c tu red rou tine f or teac h ing v oc ab u lary th at th e c h ildren k now w ell and enj oy
b ec au se it m ak es learning th e new w ords f u n. Th e lesson inc orp orates sev eral k ey elem ents:
c ontex tu aliz ing th e w ord in th e story ;
p rov iding a c h ild- f riendly ex p lanation of its m eaning along sev eral ex am p les of th e w ord
u sed m eaningf u lly ; and
am p le op p ortu nities f or th e c h ildren to p rac tic e u sing th e w ord w ith ap p rop riate lev els of
sc af f olding.
The kindergarten teachers teach 45 words per week during ELA instruction using a
p redic tab le rou tine. Th ey u se th e sam e rou tine to teac h additional w ords, w h en needed, du ring
designated E L D instru c tion. Th e teac h ers dev elop th e c h ildren s k now ledge of th e w ords ov er
tim e b y u sing th e w ords f req u ently th em selv es th rou gh ou t th e day and b y p rov iding am p le
op p ortu nities f or th e c h ildren to u se th e w ords in m eaningf u l w ay s. Th e lesson- p lanning
tem p late th e team u ses is p rov ided b elow .
Kindergarten C h ap ter 3 | 23 3
V ig nette 3 . 4. G eneral Academic V ocabulary I nstruction from Storybook s
Designated ELD in Kindergarten (cont.)
S tory :
W ord:
C ognates:
Timing: (should take 510 minutes, depending on the word)
R ou tine:
1. Tell the students the word, and briefly show them the place in the story where they first
h eard it. Tell stu dents any c ognates in th e stu dents p rim ary langu age ( e. g. , furious in
E nglish is furioso in S p anish ) .
2 . Explain what the word means in child-friendly terms (12 sentences). Use the word in
c om p lete sentenc es, so y ou do not sou nd lik e a dic tionary .
3 . E x p lain w h at th e w ord m eans in th e c ontex t of th e story .
4 . P rov ide a f ew ex am p les of h ow th e w ord c an b e u sed in oth er grade- ap p rop riate w ay s.
5 . Gu ide stu dents to u se th e w ord m eaningf u lly in one or tw o th ink - p air- sh ares ( th ree, if
needed) , w ith ap p rop riate sc af f olding ( e. g. , u sing a p ic tu re f or a p rom p t, op en sentenc e
f ram es, etc . ) .
6 . Ask short-answer questions to check for understanding (not a test they are still learning
th e w ord) .
7 . F ind w ay s to u se th e w ord a lot f rom now on, and enc ou rage th e c h ildren to u se th e w ord
as m u c h as th ey c an. Tell th em to teac h th e w ord to th eir p arents w h en th ey go h om e.
23 4 | C h ap ter 3 Kindergarten
V ig nette 3 . 4. G eneral Academic V ocabulary I nstruction from Storybook s
Designated ELD in Kindergarten (cont.)
L earning T arg et: S tu dents w ill u se general ac adem ic v oc ab u lary m eaningf u lly
in c om p lex sentenc es.
L esson Ex cerpt
Mr. Nguyen sits at the teaching table facing five of his EL students who are at the
Expanding level of English language proficiency. He shows them the book they read that
m orning, Wolf, and briefly summarizes the plot of the story. Next, he tells them about the new
w ord th ey are going to learn to u se: ignore.
M r. N gu y en: ( S h ow ing th e illu stration. ) Today , y ou re going to learn a new w ord: ignore.
L et s all say th at togeth er. I n th e story w h en th e w olf tried to sc are th e oth er
anim als, th ey j u st ignored h im . W h en y ou ignore som eone or som eth ing,
y ou don t p ay attention to it at all. Y ou p retend it s not th ere. I n th e story ,
th e anim als ignored th e w olf or p retended h e w asn t th ere b ec au se th ey
w anted to read th eir b ook s.
M r. N gu y en tells th e c h ildren som e oth er w ay s th e w ord c an b e u sed so th at th ey h av e
m odels f or u sing th e w ord in dif f erent situ ations.
M r. N gu y en: Y ou c an u se th is w ord a lot and p rob ab ly ev ery day . F or ex am p le, th is
m orning, I notic ed th at H ec tor ignored a f riend w h o w as try ing to p lay w ith
h im w h ile I w as reading y ou th is story . H ec tor didn t p ay attention to h im at
all b ec au se h e w anted to listen to th e story . S om etim es w h en I m try ing to
tak e a nap , th ere s noise ou tside m y h ou se, b u t I j u st h av e to ignore it so I
c an go to sleep . Tak e a look at th is p ic tu re. S om etim es, m y dog ignores m e
w h en I c all h er. S h e j u st p retends I m not th ere, and I h av e to tell h er P lease
don t ignore m e.
B y th is p oint, th e c h ildren h av e a good idea of w h at th e w ord m eans, and now it is th eir
tu rn to u se it. M r. N gu y en p rov ides a stru c tu re th e stu dents are f am iliar w ith ( th ink - p air- sh are) ,
lingu istic su p p ort ( op en sentenc e f ram es) , and a good q u estion to p rom ote th ink ing and th eir
m eaningf u l u se of th e w ord.
M r. N gu y en: N ow it s tim e f or y ou to u se th e w ord. H ere s a p ic tu re of a b ab y b oth ering a
dog ( sh ow s p ic tu re) . I t look s lik e th e dog is ignoring th e b ab y . W h y do y ou
th ink th e dog is ignoring th e b ab y ? ( W aits sev eral sec onds f or stu dents to do
th eir ow n th ink ing. ) I m not su re w h at y ou w ere th ink ing, b u t I m th ink ing
th at m ay b e h e s ignoring th e b ab y b ec au se h e s a lot b igger th an th e b ab y ,
and h e doesn t w ant to h u rt h er. M ay b e h e s ignoring th e b ab y b ec au se h e
doesn t c are if sh e p u lls h is ears. Y ou c an u se y ou r idea, or y ou c an u se m y
idea. N ow y ou get to tell y ou r p artner th e idea. U se th is sentenc e f ram e: Th e
dog is ignoring th e b ab y b ec au se _ _ _ .
Kindergarten C h ap ter 3 | 23 5
V ig nette 3 . 4. G eneral Academic V ocabulary I nstruction from Storybook s
Designated ELD in Kindergarten (cont.)
23 6 | C h ap ter 3 Kindergarten
V ig nette 3 . 4. G eneral Academic V ocabulary I nstruction from Storybook s
Designated ELD in Kindergarten (cont.)
different words to teach his ELs at the Emerging level of proficiency, words that are important
to u nderstanding th e stories h e reads and th at th e oth er stu dents in th e c lass m ay already
k now w ell ( e. g. , dangerou s p rac tic e) , as w ell as som e ev ery day w ords th e c h ildren m ay not
p ic k on th eir ow n ( e. g. , tow n, v illage, f arm ) .
Teacher Reflection and Next Steps
O v er th e nex t w eek , M r. N gu y en ob serv es th e c h ildren c losely as th ey sp eak and w rite to
see if they begin to use the words he has taught them. He deliberately finds ways to use the
new w ords sev eral tim es eac h day f or th e nex t w eek , and h e p osts th e new w ords, along w ith
th e p ic tu re th at dep ic ts or triggers a rem inder of th e m eanings of th e w ords ( e. g. , th e dog
and th e b ab y ) on th e c lass B ig Kids W ords w all. E ac h w eek , h e sends h om e a sh eet w ith th e
new w ords and a su p p ortiv e illu stration so th at h is stu dents c an teac h th eir p arents th e new
w ords th ey are learning and so th at p arents c an reinf orc e th e learning.
R esource
B loom , B ec k y , and P asc al B iet. 19 9 9 . Wolf. N ew Y ork : O rc h ard B ook s.
Sources
L esson insp ired b y
Beck, Isabel L., and Margaret G. McKeown. 2001. Text Talk: Capturing the Benefits of Read-aloud Experiences for
Y ou ng C h ildren. The Reading Teacher, 55: 1020.
S ilv erm an, R eb ec c a D . 2 0 0 7 . V oc ab u lary D ev elop m ent of E nglish - langu age and E nglish - only L earners in
Kindergarten. Elementary School Journal, 107: 365383.
S p y c h er, P am ela. 2 0 0 9 . L earning A c adem ic L angu age th rou gh S c ienc e in Tw o L ingu istic ally D iv erse C lassroom s.
Elementary School Journal 10 9 ( 4 ) : 3 5 9 - 3 7 9 .
Additional I nformation
W eb site
Colorn Colorado has information about selecting vocabulary words to teac h to E L s. ( h ttp : / / w w w . c olorinc olorado.
org/ edu c ators/ c ontent/ v oc ab u lary / ) .
R ecommended reading
B ec k , I sab el, M argaret M c Keow n, and L inda Ku c an. 2 0 0 2 . Tak ing D eligh t in W ords: U sing O ral L angu age To B u ild
Young Childrens Vocabularies. Colorn Colorado. (h ttp : / / w w w . readingroc k ets. org/ artic le/ 119 17 ) .
Kindergarten C h ap ter 3 | 23 7
Conclusion
Th e inf orm ation and ideas in th is grade- lev el sec tion are p rov ided to gu ide teac h ers in th eir
instru c tional p lanning. R ec ogniz ing C alif ornia s ric h ly div erse stu dent p op u lation is c ritic al f or
instru c tional and p rogram p lanning and deliv ery . Teac h ers are resp onsib le f or edu c ating a v ariety
of learners, inc lu ding adv anced learners, students w ith disabilities, EL s at different
English language proficiency levels, standard Eng lish learners, and oth er culturally and
ling uistically div erse learners, as w ell as students experiencing difficulties w ith one or m ore
of th e th em es of E L A / literac y and E L D instru c tion ( M eaning M ak ing, E f f ec tiv e E x p ression, L angu age
D ev elop m ent, C ontent Know ledge, and F ou ndational S k ills) .
I t is b ey ond th e sc op e of a c u rric u lu m f ram ew ork to p rov ide gu idanc e on m eeting th e learning
needs of ev ery c h ild b ec au se eac h c h ild c om es to teac h ers w ith u niq u e disp ositions, sk ills, h istories,
and c irc u m stanc es. Teac h ers need to k now th eir stu dents w ell th rou gh ap p rop riate assessm ent
p rac tic es and oth er m eth ods, inc lu ding c om m u nic ation w ith f am ilies, in order to design ef f ec tiv e
instruction for them. They need to adapt and refine instruction as appropriate for individual learners
and capitalize on opportunities for collaboration with colleagues and others (see figure 3.27).
Kindergarten c h ildren h av e j u st em b ark ed on th e v oy age of th eir lif etim e. Th e w orld of w ords,
stories, and ideas is a new adv entu re f or th em , and th ey b ring f resh ey es to ev ery sc h ooling ev ent. A s
they prepare to move to grade one, kindergarten children find excitement in new concepts, comfort in
f am iliar tales, and new - f ou nd p ride in th e sk ills and k now ledge so rec ently ac q u ired.
Collaboration: A N ecessity
F req u ent and m eaningf u l c ollab oration w ith c olleagu es and p arents/ f am ilies is c ritic al f or
ensu ring th at all stu dents m eet th e ex p ec tations of th e C A C C S S f or E L A / L iterac y and th e C A
E L D S tandards. Teac h ers are at th eir b est w h en th ey f req u ently c ollab orate w ith th eir teac h ing
c olleagu es to p lan instru c tion, analy z e stu dents w ork , disc u ss stu dents p rogress, integrate
new learning into their practice, and refine lessons or identify interventions when students
experience difficulties. Students are at their best when teachers enlist the collaboration of
p arents and f am ilies and th e stu dents th em selv es as p artners in th eir edu c ation. S c h ools
are at th eir b est w h en edu c ators are su p p orted b y adm inistrators and oth er su p p ort staf f
to im p lem ent th e ty p e of instru c tion c alled f or in th is ELA/ELD Framework. S c h ool distric ts
are at th eir b est w h en teac h ers ac ross th e distric t h av e an ex p anded p rof essional learning
c om m u nity th ey c an rely u p on as th ou gh tf u l p artners and f or tangib le instru c tional resou rc es.
M ore inf orm ation ab ou t th ese ty p es of c ollab oration c an b e f ou nd in c h ap ter 11 and
th rou gh ou t th is ELA/ELD Framework.
23 8 | C h ap ter 3 Kindergarten
Grade One
First grade is an exciting year filled with remarkable advances in literacy and language. Children
continue to learn skills that enable them to read, write, and communicate more independently.
They apply their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code and they recognize a growing number
of words accurately and automatically. They learn to write and spell many words and use them to
communicate ideas and experiences. They engage deeply with high-quality literary and informational
texts as listeners and readers, and they compose different types of texts for different purposes. They
continue on the path toward becoming broadly literate. (See chapter 2 of this ELA/ELD Framework.)
Concurrently, children have rich experiences in the content areas that expand their knowledge of the
world and their language.
Instruction is designed such that the range of learners in the classroom receives excellent
first teaching. Some children may require additional instruction in order to achieve the standards.
Additional instruction is provided in a timely fashion and is targeted to ensure all children make the
progress necessary for access to the same future opportunities in their educations, careers, and lives
as their peers.
Effective Expression
In grade one, children make progress toward expressing
themselves effectively as they write, discuss, and present their
ideas and knowledge to others. They continue to expand their
command of written and spoken language conventions.
Writing
Children progress considerably in their writing, both in terms
of substance (including organization and style) and mechanics
during grade one. They have daily opportunities to write with
their teacher, their peers, and on their own for a variety of
purposes and in a variety of contexts. They write in learning
and literature response journals. They write messages to others.
They write directions for visitors. They write lists of ways to
improve the playground.
Children learn to reflect on the effectiveness of their own and others writing as they share their
written work. Some selections are revised after feedback from the teacher or peers (W.1.5). Some
are published, such as when each child contributes a page produced digitally to a class book. Children
engage deeply with a number of texts, use language to communicate with peers, and problem solve
as they pursue research topics and present in writing what they learned (W.1.7).
Teac h ers c aref u lly ex am ine stu dents w riting to determ ine ac h iev em ent of selec ted ob j ec tiv es,
reflect on the effectiveness of their teaching, and inform subsequent instruction. They involve students
in rev iew ing th eir w ork . Teac h ers of E L c h ildren also u se th e C A E L D S tandards to gu ide th eir analy sis
of stu dent w riting and to inf orm th e ty p e of f eedb ac k th ey p rov ide to stu dents.
Discussing
A s in all grades, tex t interac tions and oth er learning Asinallgrades,text
ex p erienc es ( e. g. , sc ienc e inv estigations, researc h p roj ec ts, sk ill
instru c tion in danc e, c onc ep t dev elop m ent in m ath em atic s) are
interactionsandother
su rrou nded w ith disc u ssions. C h ildren c onv erse w ith one anoth er learningexperiences(e.g.,
in p airs and sm all grou p s, and th ey p artic ip ate in large grou p scienceinvestigations,
disc u ssions led b y th e teac h er b ef ore, du ring, and af ter engaging researchprojects,skill
w ith tex ts and top ic s. Th ese disc u ssions c ontrib u te to m eaning instructionindance,
m ak ing and langu age dev elop m ent, and th ey b roaden c h ildren s
conceptdevelopment
ex p osu re to a range of p ersp ec tiv es.
inmathematics)are
F or c h ildren to ex p ress th em selv es ef f ec tiv ely in disc u ssion,
teac h ers p rov ide ex p lic it instru c tion and gu idanc e in disc u ssion
surroundedwith
b eh av iors and sk ills. Th ey talk ab ou t disc u ssion norm s ( e. g. , discussions.
Children are also given specific tasks to address in small groups. For example, they discuss
h ow to im p rov e p lay grou nd c leanu p , h ow to reorganiz e th e c lassroom f u rnitu re f or m ore sp ac e f or
indep endent ac tiv ities, w h en to b est sc h edu le q u iet reading
tim e du ring th e day , w h ere to store art su p p lies, or h ow to c are
f or th e c lass garden on w eek ends. W h en c onf ronted w ith a c lass Itiscrucialthatallchildren
conflict, teachers ask children to talk in small groups to identify learnhowtoengage
and disc u ss at least th ree solu tions to th e issu e. indiscussionsand,
I t is c ru c ial th at all c h ildren learn h ow to engage in importantly,thattheyfeel
disc u ssions and, im p ortantly , th at th ey f eel w elc om e to welcometocontribute.
c ontrib u te. Teac h ers p lay a c ritic al role in ensu ring th at b oth
Teachersplayacriticalrole
of th ese h ap p en. F orm ativ e assessm ent, in th e f orm of c lose
ob serv ation, inf orm s teac h ers dec isions f or in- th e- m om ent inensuringthatbothof
sc af f olding as w ell as th eir p lans f or su b seq u ent instru c tion. thesehappen.
Presenting
I n grade one, c h ildren h av e m any op p ortu nities to p resent th eir op inions, stories, and k now ledge
to oth ers. S om e p resentations req u ire m ore p lanning and reh earsal th an oth ers. S om e p resentations
are c ollab orativ e and som e are indiv idu al. Teac h ers ensu re th at stu dents h av e adeq u ate b ac k grou nd
k now ledge and v oc ab u lary to p resent ideas and inf orm ation ef f ec tiv ely . Th ey p rov ide instru c tion
and dem onstrate ef f ec tiv e p resentations th em selv es, and th ey deb rief w ith c h ildren, as ap p rop riate.
P resenting in grade one tak es m any f orm s, inc lu ding:
S h ow ing and telling ( see th e k indergarten sec tion)
R etelling a f am iliar story
E x p laining h ow to p erf orm a task
S h aring w ith oth ers a grou p ex p erienc e
R eading a w ordless p ic tu re b ook
R ep orting th e ou tc om e of a researc h p roj ec t
Content Knowledge
The importance of content knowledge is discussed
throughout this framework. Grade one children are provided
rich content instruction that deepens their knowledge of the
world; expands their language; familiarizes them with diverse
ways of thinking about, pursuing, and expressing information;
and ignites their interests. Content knowledge is built through
excellent subject matter instruction (which includes hands-on
experiences, investigations, demonstrations, and discussions)
as well as through wide reading, rich interactions with
informational text, and engagement in research projects.
Wide reading is promoted and facilitated. Wide reading
occurs through teacher read alouds and, as children become
Foundational Skills
In grade one, children advance significantly in their
phonological awareness, basic decoding and word recognition
skills, and fluency. They learn to decode and recognize an
increasing number of words accurately and automatically, and
they have many opportunities to practice using their skills.
First grade ELs can and should develop foundational reading
skills at the same pace as their non-EL peers. However, teachers
assess childrens knowledge both in English and the primary
language in order to provide appropriate instruction. Figure 3.11
in the overview of the span of this chapter offers guidance on
considerations for using the CA CCSS foundational reading skills
with EL children.
Print Concepts
In kindergarten, children developed many print concepts. In grade one, they learn the
distinguishing features of a sentence, such as first word capitalization and ending punctuation. These
concepts are taught explicitly, and attention is drawn to them in texts they read. Furthermore, they
employ these concepts in their own writing.
Phonological Awareness
Children made great strides in their development of phonological awareness in kindergarten. In
grade one, they accomplish the remaining phonological awareness standards (RF.1.2ad) displayed in
figure 3.31.
Standard 2 Ex ample
a. D istingu ish long f rom sh ort v ow el Th ey say th at tape and tap are dif f erent w ords w h en
sou nds in sp ok en single- sy llab le th ey h ear th em sp ok en.
w ords.
c . I solate and p ronou nc e initial, They say /f/ when asked the first phoneme in the
medial vowel, and final sounds orally p resented w ord food. They say // when asked
( p h onem es) in sp ok en single- th e m edial p h onem e in th e orally p resented w ord dog.
sy llab le w ords. They say /t/ when asked the final phoneme is the
w ord hot.
[Note: Isolating the medial vowel is more difficult than
isolating the initial or final phonemes and generally is
addressed af ter c h ildren su c c essf u lly isolate initial and
final phonemes.]
d. S egm ent sp ok en single- sy llab le They say /f/-/r/-//-/g/ when asked to say all the
w ords into th eir c om p lete sou nds in order ( segm ent) in th e sp ok en w ord frog.
seq u enc e of indiv idu al sou nds
( p h onem es) .
sound in a spoken word. (See figure 3.32.) The class environment continues to support phonological
p lay as c h ildren rec ite and c om p ose p oem s and songs th at m anip u late sou nds and listen to and
interac t w ith b ook s th at p rom inently f eatu re p lay w ith p h onem es. Th e p h onologic al c h arac teristic s are
ex p lic itly disc u ssed. ( S ee p rev iou s sec tions on p h onologic al aw areness in th is c h ap ter. )
r a m p
Children experiencing difficulty with phonological awareness are provided additional or intensified
instru c tion b ec au se th is insigh t is c ru c ial f or reading and w riting dev elop m ent. A s noted p rev iou sly , a
c aref u l p rogression of instru c tion is im p ortant. Tw o- and th ree- p h onem e w ords c ontaining c ontinu ou s
sou nds ( su c h as as and man) are ty p ic ally easier to b lend and segm ent th an w ords c ontaining
nonc ontinu ou s sou nds ( su c h as tap and bug). Children experiencing difficulty benefit from explicit
attention to th e m anner and p lac e of artic u lation of sou nds. Th u s, u sing m irrors to ob serv e h ow
dif f erent sou nds are m ade b y th e m ou th , f ollow ed b y an ex p lic it disc u ssion, c an b e a p rodu c tiv e
ap p roac h . D if f erentiated instru c tion is c ru c ial and sh ou ld m ov e f rom w h at c h ildren k now to w h at th ey
still need to learn.
Phonics and W ord R ecog nition
I n term s of dec oding and w ord rec ognition, c h ildren entering grade one ideally p ossess tw o
c ritic al sk ills: ( 1) a dev elop ing u nderstanding of th e p h onologic al b asis of sp ok en langu age, and ( 2 )
k now ledge of letter- sou nd c orresp ondenc es. S om e c h ildren c om b ine th e tw o sk ills intu itiv ely . Th ey
u se th eir aw areness of sou nds in sp ok en w ords w ith th eir k now ledge of letter- sou nd c orresp ondenc es
to identif y and b lend th e sou nds rep resented in a p rinted w ord, and th u s, generate a w ord. A p riority
of grade one instru c tion is f or c h ildren to dev elop th e alp h ab etic insigh t and u se th at insigh t and
ac c om p any ing sk ills to dec ode w ords indep endently and, w ith p rac tic e, au tom atic ally . D ec oding is
essential to reading u nf am iliar w ords and is a c ritic al b enc h m ark in a c h ild s reading dev elop m ent.
D ec oding instru c tion in grade one:
E nsu res c h ildren c an b lend sou nds to generate w ords
P rogresses sy stem atic ally f rom sim p le w ord ty p es ( e. g. , c onsonant- v ow el- c onsonant) , w ord
length s ( e. g. , nu m b er of p h onem es) , and w ord c om p lex ity ( e. g. , p h onem es in th e w ord,
p osition of b lends, stop sou nds) to m ore c om p lex w ords
I nc lu des ex p lic it m odeling at eac h of th e f u ndam ental stages ( e. g. , assoc iating letters w ith th e
sou nds th ey rep resent, b lending sou nds to generate w h ole w ords)
S eq u enc es w ords strategic ally to inc orp orate k now ledge of letter- sou nd and sp elling- sou nd
c orresp ondenc es
P rov ides p rac tic e in c ontrolled c onnec ted tex t in w h ic h c h ildren ap p ly th eir new ly learned sk ills
su c c essf u lly ( i. e. , dec odab le tex t)
I nc lu des rep eated op p ortu nities to read w ords in c ontex ts in w h ic h c h ildren ap p ly th eir
k now ledge of letter- sou nd and sp elling- sou nd c orresp ondenc es and w h ic h leads to au tom atic ity
w ith w ords
Teac h es nec essary sigh t w ords to m ak e m ore interesting tex t ac c essib le
A s noted p rev iou sly , instru c tion in p h onic s and w ord rec ognition is c aref u lly seq u enc ed so less
c om p lex u nderstandings p rec ede m ore c om p lex ones and new learning is b u ilt u p on p rev iou sly
ac q u ired k now ledge. F u rth erm ore, it is p ac ed in ac c ordanc e w ith indiv idu al stu dents p rogress.
O ne tec h niq u e f or f ac ilitating c h ildren s c om m and of th e alp h ab etic p rinc ip le is to engage th em in
b u ilding w ords, w h ic h direc ts th eir attention to eac h grap h em e in a w ord. N otab ly , it is not u nc om m on
for children who experience difficulty with decoding to demonstrate accurate decoding of the initial
s a t
s a p
t a p
t o p
s t o p
t o p
25 0 | C h ap ter 3 Grade 1
Over time, word building progressions targets more difficult letter-sound and spelling-sound
c om b inations and w ord f orm s, inc lu ding w ords w ith c om m on v ow el team s and c onsonant digrap h s.
( S ee also S p ear- S w erling 2 0 11 f or a disc u ssion and
C u nningh am and H all 2 0 0 1, 2 0 0 8 , f or v ariations on w ord
Gradeoneinstructioninword b u ilding. )
recognitionincludesteaching
Grade one instru c tion in w ord rec ognition inc lu des
highfrequencyirregular
teac h ing h igh - f req u enc y irregu lar w ords sy stem atic ally .
wordssystematically.Words
W ords w ith h igh u tility are selec ted and u sed j u dic iou sly in
withhighutilityareselected
early reading. Teac h ers p oint ou t irregu larities w h ile f oc u sing
andusedjudiciouslyinearly
c h ildren s attention on all letters and letter c om b inations
reading.Teacherspointout
in th e w ord and p rov ide rep eated p rac tic e. Th e nu m b er of
irregularitieswhilefocusing
irregu lar w ords introdu c ed is c ontrolled so th at th e c h ildren
childrensattentiononall
are not ov erw h elm ed, and p rev iou sly introdu c ed w ords
lettersandlettercombinations
are rev iew ed daily . H igh - f req u enc y irregu lar w ords ( e. g. ,
inthewordandprovide
was, said, they, there) , of ten c onf u sed b y y ou ng c h ildren,
repeatedpractice.
are strategic ally sep arated f or initial instru c tion. F orm ativ e
assessm ent is im p ortant to determ ine th e ap p rop riate p ac e
of introdu c ing new w ords and th e am ou nt of rev iew nec essary f or indiv idu al c h ildren. C aref u l rec ord-
k eep ing of c h ildren s ac c u rac y inf orm s su b seq u ent instru c tion.
I nstru c tion in w ord f am ilies and w ord p atterns ( i. e. , reading orth ograp h ic u nits of tex t, su c h as
at, sat, fat, rat, som etim es ref erred to as phonograms) b egins af ter c h ildren h av e learned th e letter-
sou nd c orresp ondenc es in th e u nit ( E h ri and M c C orm ic k 19 9 8 ) . Teac h ing c h ildren to p roc ess larger
highly represented patterns increases fluency in word recognition. However, the instruction is carefully
c oordinated and b u ilds on k now ledge gained f rom instru c tion in letter- sou nd c orresp ondenc es and
p h onem e b lending. A dif f erent p ath is f ollow ed b y stu dents w h o are deaf and h ard of h earing and do
not h av e c om p lete ac c ess to th e letter- sou nd c orresp ondenc es of E nglish . A m eric an S ign L angu age,
fingerspelling, reading, and writing skills are interwoven for students who are deaf. The merging of
th ese sk ills enab les th e dev elop m ent of th e alp h ab etic p rinc ip le ( V isu al L angu age and V isu al L earning
S c ienc e of L earning C enter 2 0 10 ) .
C h ildren p rac tic e th eir inc reasing k now ledge of th e
c ode w ith dec odab le tex t, w h ic h serv es as an im p ortant Teachingchildrentoprocess
interm ediary step b etw een initial sk ill ac q u isition and th e largerhighlyrepresented
c h ildren s ab ility to read q u ality trade b ook s. ( S ee th e patternsincreasesfluencyin
disc u ssion of dec odab le tex t in th e ov erv iew of th e sp an of wordrecognition.However,
th is c h ap ter. ) D ec odab le tex t giv es c h ildren th e op p ortu nity theinstructioniscarefully
to ap p ly w ord analy sis sk ills rath er th an sim p ly rec onstru c t coordinatedandbuildson
tex t th ey h av e m em oriz ed. knowledgegainedfrom
B y th e end of grade one, c h ildren k now and ap p ly grade- instructioninlettersound
lev el p h onic s and w ord analy sis sk ills in dec oding w ords correspondencesand
both in isolation and in text (RF.1.3ag), see figure 3.33. phonemeblending.
See figure 3.34 for guidance on one way to teach children to
b lend p rinted w ords.
Grade 1 C h ap ter 3 | 25 1
Figure 3.33. Grade One Standards in Phonics and Word Recognition with Examples
Standard 3 Ex ample
a. Know th e sp elling- sou nd W h en c h ildren see th e p rinted letter sh, th ey indic ate
c orresp ondenc es f or c om m on th at it rep resents th e sou nd / sh / . W h en th ey h ear th e
c onsonant digrap h s. sou nd / sh / , th ey identif y th e letter c om b ination th at
rep resents it. A dditional c onsonant digrap h s are th,
wh, kn, wr, ph.
b . D ec ode regu larly sp elled one- W h en c h ildren see th e w ritten w ord dog ( C V C p attern) ,
sy llab le w ords. th ey u se th eir k now ledge of letter- sou nd and sp elling-
sou nd c orresp ondenc es to say and b lend th e sou nds
to p ronou nc e th e w ord. O th er regu larly sp elled one-
sy llab le w ord p atterns inc lu de V C ( if) , V C C ( ask) , C V C C
( fast) , C C V C ( drop) .
c . Know final -e and common W h en c h ildren see th e w ritten w ord hide, th ey u se
v ow el team c onv entions f or th eir k now ledge th at - e generally indic ates th at th e
rep resenting long v ow el sou nds. p rec eding v ow el is long and p ronou nc e th e w ord. Th ey
also k now oth er c om m on v ow el team s th at rep resent
long v ow els, su c h as ai ( rain) , ea ( eat) , ee ( feet) , oa
( boat) .
d. U se k now ledge th at ev ery W h en th ey see th e w ritten w ord catsup, th ey identif y
sy llab le m u st h av e a v ow el sou nd the two vowel sounds, // and //, and indicate that
to determ ine th e nu m b er of th e w ord h as tw o sy llab les. Th ey u se th at k now ledge
sy llab les in a p rinted w ord. to dec ode th e w ord.
e. D ec ode tw o- sy llab le w ords W h en c h ildren see th e w ord before, th ey identif y th e
f ollow ing b asic p atterns b y two syllables and use their knowledge that the first
b reak ing th e w ords into sy llab les. sy llab le is op en so th e v ow el is p ronou nc ed w ith th e
long sound and the second syllable has a final -e
so th e p rec eding v ow el is p ronou nc ed w ith th e long
sou nd.
f . Read words with inflectional W h en c h ildren see th e w ritten w ord playing, th ey
endings. rec ogniz e th e b ase w ord and th e ending and
pronounce the word. Other common inflectional
endings are -est, -ed.
g. R ec ogniz e and read grade- W h en c h ildren see th e p rinted w ord once, th ey q u ic k ly
ap p rop riate irregu larly sp elled and ac c u rately p ronou nc e it.
w ords.
25 2 | C h ap ter 3 Grade 1
Figure 3.34. Blending Sounds in Printed Words in Grade One
Prior learning
S c reening and f orm ativ e assessm ent are c ru c ial to ensu re c h ildren h av e th e nec essary sk ills and
k now ledge f or p artic ip ating in th e lesson.
C h ildren k now th e letter- sou nd c orresp ondenc es f or th e letters in th e target w ords.
C h ildren c an b lend sp ok en sou nds into sp ok en w ords.
C h ildren k now th at som e sou nds c an b e elongated w ith ou t distortion ( th at is, v ow els and c ontinu ant
c onsonants, su c h as / m / and / f / ) and th at oth ers m u st b e p ronou nc ed m ore q u ic k ly to av oid
distortion ( su c h as / p / , / b / , and / g/ , w h ic h if elongated b ec om e / p u h / , / b u h / , and / gu h / ) .
Th e w ords u sed are in th e c h ildren s oral v oc ab u lary .
C h ildren h av e learned to b lend tw o- and th ree- p h onem e p rinted w ords, su c h as no and sun.
Considerations
A ssessm ent p rov ides inf orm ation regarding im p ortant c onsiderations.
E nglish learners sh ou ld h av e b een tau gh t in adv anc e any p h onem es b eing u sed th at are not in th eir
p rim ary langu age.
S om e grade one c h ildren do not need b lending instru c tion. I nstru c tional tim e sh ou ld not b e tak en to
address a sk ill th ey already p ossess ( in E nglish or in a dif f erent langu age) . A ssessm ent is c ru c ial.
S om e c h ildren learn w ords b y sigh t v ery q u ic k ly , y et th ey m ay not h av e th e sk ills to dec ode p rev iou sly
u nenc ou ntered w ords. A ssessm ent is c ru c ial.
*Model
P rint th e w ord slam on th e b oard. S ay : Today I am going to show you how to sound out words with four
letters. Watch me blend the sounds these letters represent. P oint j u st to th e lef t of slam and say : I will
blend this word. F orm ativ e in- th e- m om ent assessm ent p rov ides th e teac h er w ith inf orm ation nec essary to
determ ine w h eth er to c ontinu e, sc af f old, or alter th e lesson.
1. Move your finger to the letter s, say : /sss/. Im going to keep saying this sound until I point to the
next letter.
2 . Keep saying /sss/. Slide your finger from the letter s to th e letter l. P ointing to th e letter l, say : /lll/.
3 . Keep saying /lll/. Slide your finger from the letter l to th e letter a. P ointing to th e letter a, say : /aaa/.
4 . Keep say ing /aaa/. Slide your finger to the letter m. P ointing to th e letter m, say : /mmm/.
5 . Lift your finger and point just to the left of the word slam and say : Now watch as I read the whole
word. Then quickly sweep with your finger under the whole word and say slam. S ay : To slam a door
means to shut it hard. When you slam a door, it usually makes a loud noise. Slam!
6 . M odel additional ex am p les, u sing w ords th at b egin c ontinu ant sou nds, su c h as frog. S top ( th at is,
noncontinuant) sounds may be in the final position.
Grade 1 C h ap ter 3 | 25 3
4 . Keep say ing /aaa/ with the students. Slide your finger from the letter a to th e letter t. P oint to th e
letter t f or only an instant and h av e stu dents resp ond along w ith y ou : /t/.
5 . P oint j u st to th e lef t of th e w ord flat and say : Lets read this word. With your finger, sweep quickly
u nder th e w ord as y ou lead stu dents in say ing th e w h ole w ord: flat.
6 . P rov ide additional gu ided p rac tic e as ap p rop riate.
*Check
Print the word flag on the board. Say: Now I am going to lead you in sounding out words. Youre going
to sound out some words along with me. Remember, well keep saying a sound until I point to the next
letter. Point just to the left of flag and say: Lets blend this word. F orm ativ e in- th e- m om ent assessm ent
p rov ides th e teac h er w ith inf orm ation nec essary to determ ine w h eth er to c ontinu e, sc af f old, or alter th e
lesson.
1. Move your finger to the letter f for one or two seconds to signal students to say and continue to say
th e sou nd f or th e letter f . ( / f f f ) / ) N od or p rov ide c orrec tiv e f eedb ac k as nec essary .
2 . Slide your finger from the letter f to the letter l. Point to the letter l for one or two seconds to
signal stu dents to say and c ontinu e to say th e sou nd f or th e letter l. ( / lll/ ) N od or p rov ide c orrec tiv e
f eedb ac k as ap p rop riate.
3 . Slide your finger from the letter l to the letter a. Point to the letter a for one or two seconds to signal
stu dents to say and c ontinu e to say th e sou nd f or th e letter a. ( / aaa/ ) . N od or p rov ide c orrec tiv e
f eedb ac k as ap p rop riate.
4 . Slide your finger to the letter g. Point to the letter g for only an instant to signal students to say the
sou nd f or th e letter g. ( / g/ ) N od or p rov ide c orrec tiv e f eedb ac k .
5 . Lift your finger and point just to the left of the word flag. Quickly sweep your finger under the word
to signal stu dents to resp ond b y say ing th e w h ole w ord. P rov ide f eedb ac k and ask stu dents to p oint
to the flag displayed in the classroom.
6 . R ep eat th e rou tine w ith additional w ords.
Follow-Up ( in th e sam e or su b seq u ent lessons af ter stu dents h av e dem onstrated su c c ess)
Use more difficult sound order or combinations, such as words beginning with stop sounds.
Demonstrate blending in your head. Print several words on the board. Slide your finger from
letter to letter, w h isp ering or m ou th ing th e sou nds, elongating th ose th at c an b e elongated w ith ou t
distortion. Then return your finger just to the left of the word and quickly sweep it under and say
alou d th e w h ole w ord. M odel th e p roc ess, lead th e stu dents to j oin y ou ( w h isp ering or m ou th ing
sounds, then saying the word), and finally have students blend a word in their heads as you (or
indiv idu als) p oint.
H av e th e stu dents p rint orally p resented w ords ( th u s sh if ting f rom dec oding to enc oding) . U se th e
sam e w ords f rom th e lesson or new w ords th at c ontain th e sam e sou nd- letter c orresp ondenc es.
Source
* Th ese sec tions are adap ted f rom
H onig, B ill, L inda D iam ond, and L inda Gu tloh n. 2 0 13 . Teaching Reading Sourcebook. N ov ato, C A : A rena P ress.
F luency
Grade one children learn to read aloud fluently in a manner that resembles natural speech.
Although important in its own right, fluency has significant implications for comprehension. If children
are not fluent, automatic decoders, they spend so much mental energy decoding words that they have
little energy left for comprehension (Stanovich 1994). Comprehension clearly involves more than fluent
word recognition but is dependent on fluent word recognition (Shanahan, and others 2010).
25 4 | C h ap ter 3 Grade 1
A u tom atic ity , th e ab ility to rec ogniz e a w ord ef f ortlessly and rap idly , c om es w ith sk ill dev elop m ent
( as c h ildren learn letter- sou nd and sp elling- sou nd c orresp ondenc es and h ow to b lend sou nds to f orm
w ords) and p rac tic e.
One technique for increasing fluency involves repeated readings of the same text to develop
f am iliarity and au tom atic ity ( N ational R eading P anel 2 0 0 0 ; S am u els 19 7 9 ) . R ereadings, h ow ev er,
sh ou ld b e p u rp osef u l, su c h as w h en c h ildren p rep are f or a p erf orm anc e. I n grade one c h ildren:
R ead on- lev el tex t w ith p u rp ose and u nderstanding
R ead on- lev el tex t orally w ith ac c u rac y , ap p rop riate rate, and ex p ression on su c c essiv e readings
Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as
nec essary
A ttention to rate ( b u t not rac ing) is essential b ec au se
rate reflects automaticity. However, as noted previously,
grade- one teac h ers need to ensu re th at stu dents b ec om e
sk illed at f u ll alp h ab etic dec oding ( th at is, not j u st look ing Whendetermininghow
at the initial and final parts of a word to identify it, which fluentlyELchildrenread,itis
is p artial alp h ab etic dec oding) . A lth ou gh th is m ay resu lt criticaltoconsidermorethan
in slow ing reading tem p orarily ( in oth er w ords, rate m ay readingrate.Englishlearners
dec rease) , w ith ou t c aref u l attention to f u ll alp h ab etic
canbedeceptivelyfastand
dec oding, som e c h ildren do not dev elop th e sk ills th ey need
f or f u tu re reading and sp elling. Teac h ers assess stu dents accuratewhilereadingaloud
sk ills c aref u lly w ith th e goal f or stu dents to em p loy f u ll inEnglish,buttheymaynot
alp h ab etic k now ledge sw if tly . Teac h ers determ ine w h eth er fullycomprehendthemeaning
c h ildren c an do so, and if th ey c annot, teac h ers determ ine ofthetexttheyarereading.
th e reason and th e ap p rop riate ac tions to tak e.
F lu enc y rates sh ou ld b e c au tiou sly interp reted w ith all
children. They are particularly difficult to apply to speakers
of langu ages oth er th an E nglish and to stu dents w h o are deaf and h ard of h earing w h o u se A m eric an
Sign Language. When determining how fluently EL children read, it is critical to consider more than
reading rate. E nglish learners c an b e dec ep tiv ely f ast and ac c u rate w h ile reading alou d in E nglish , b u t
th ey m ay not f u lly c om p reh end th e m eaning of th e tex t th ey are reading.
I n addition, w h en E L c h ildren are learning to dec ode w h ile also learning E nglish as an additional
langu age, c om m on p ronu nc iation or gram m atic al m isc u es th at do not af f ec t c om p reh ension m ay
sometimes occur. Teachers should use caution in interpreting miscues when assessing fluency, as they
are a natu ral p art of dev elop ing E nglish as an additional langu age and m ay or m ay not b e m isc u es in
need of instructional attention. Pronunciation differences due to influences from the primary language,
home dialect of English, or regional accent should not automatically be misunderstood as difficulty
w ith dec oding. A c onsistent f oc u s on m eaning m ak ing ensu res th at E L and oth er c h ildren attend to
comprehension and not just speed. As with all children, decisions about fluency are not made solely
on th e b asis of reading rate or ac c u rac y .
AnIntegratedandInterdisciplinaryApproach
A s disc u ssed in th e ov erv iew of th e sp an in th is c h ap ter, th e C A C C S S f or E L A / L iterac y and th e C A
E L D S tandards c all f or an integration of reading, w riting, sp eak ing, and listening. I n addition, th ese
tw o sets of standards are intended to liv e in ev ery c ontent area. L earning su b j ec t m atter req u ires th at
stu dents u nderstand and u se th e langu age of th e su b j ec t to c om p reh end, c larif y , and c om m u nic ate
c onc ep ts. Th e f ollow ing snap sh ots illu strate h ow th e integration of th e langu age arts am ong
th em selv es and w ith oth er c ontent areas oc c u rs in grade one c lassroom s.
Grade 1 C h ap ter 3 | 25 5
Snapshot 3.8. Examining a Table of Contents in Grade One
Before guiding a small group of first graders through reading an informational text, Miss
Zielonka asks the children to examine the Table of Contents. She asks the children to think
about the purpose of the table. What is in it? Why did the author include it? How does it assist
readers? The children share their thoughts with a partner and then several offer their ideas
to the group. Miss Zielonka acknowledges that the table informs readers of the categories of
information in the text and she expresses interest in the topics the author has included. She
comments on what she is most excited to learn about and asks the children if they already
know about some of the topics. She provides each student with a sticky note to tag the page.
With support, the children read the book, identifying and talking about the main ideas of the
content at appropriate points. They pause at new sections and revisit the Table of Contents
to confirm that the table matches the sections. Later, the children have time to explore
other books in the classroom library. They discover that some books have Tables of Contents
while others do not. They share their findings with one another. After further instruction, the
children will write their own informational books on topics they have been researching. They
will think about how to organize the information and will include headings and a Table of
Contents, using the books they have explored as examples.
Mr. Rodriguez subsequently selects several additional words from the unit, ensuring
that his selections are words relevant to the science unit that had been explicitly taught
and used numerous times. These words included cycle, mature, and develop. The children
worked in teams to create a Frayer Model for the term of their choice, using books and other
materials for reference. Mr. Rodriguez encourages the children to use the language frames
for conversations poster in the classroom, which has frames such as I agree, and ___. I
agree, but ___. He tells the children that he expects their charts to be accurate and legible
so that other students can understand and learn from them, and he also encourages them to
include graphics and illustrations. Mr. Rodriguez circulates from one team to another, providing
support as needed. He carefully observes his students with disabilities and the EL children
to determine how they are interacting with the task and with others, providing strategic
scaffolding based on their particular learning needs. Later, each team presents its chart to the
larger group. The children stand at the front of the room, read the text on their chart aloud,
provide elaboration on what they had written, and respond to questions and comments from
their peers. The charts are displayed on the bulletin board for the duration of the unit of study
so that the children can reference and begin to integrate the terms into their speaking and
writing.
Definition Characteristics
Metamorphosis is a major change in the animals physical appearance
the bodies of certain animals as they changes a lot
become adults. the animals behaviors change
the animals habitats need change
metamorphosis
Examples Non-examples
From their first days in grade one, EL children learn English, learn
c ontent k now ledge th rou gh E nglish , and learn ab ou t h ow E nglish
Fromtheirfirstdaysin w ork s. E nglish langu age dev elop m ent oc c u rs th rou gh ou t th e day
gradeone,ELchildren and ac ross th e disc ip lines ( integrated E L D ) and also du ring a tim e
learnEnglish,learn specifically designated for developing English based on EL students
contentknowledge langu age learning needs ( designated E L D ) . A p p roac h es to E L D v ary
throughEnglish,and dep ending on th e p rogram of instru c tion ( e. g. , m ainstream E nglish ,
alternativ e b ilingu al p rogram ) . Th e C A E L D S tandards serv e as a
learnabouthow
gu ide f or teac h ers to m eet th e E nglish langu age dev elop m ent needs
Englishworks. of th eir E L stu dents and are u sed in tandem w ith th e C A C C S S f or
E L A / L iterac y , as w ell as oth er related c ontent standards.
M ost E L D instru c tion oc c u rs th rou gh ou t th e sc h ool day th rou gh c ontent instru c tion w ith integrated
E L D . D esignated E L D is a p rotec ted tim e du ring th e regu lar sc h ool day w h en teac h ers w ork w ith E L
children grouped by similar English language proficiency levels on critical language students need
to dev elop in order to b e su c c essf u l in sc h ool. I n designated E L D th ere is a strong em p h asis on
dev elop ing ac adem ic E nglish . D esignated E L D tim e is an op p ortu nity to f oc u s on and delv e deep er
into th e lingu istic resou rc es of E nglish th at E L c h ildren need to engage w ith c ontent, m ak e m eaning
f rom it, and c reate oral and w ritten tex ts in w ay s th at m eet th e ex p ec tations of th e C A C C S S f or
E L A / L iterac y and oth er c ontent standards. A c c ordingly , th e C A E L D S tandards are th e p rim ary
standards u sed du ring th is designated tim e. H ow ev er, th e c ontent f oc u s is deriv ed f rom oth er areas of
th e c u rric u la.
Th e m ain instru c tional em p h ases in designated E L D are oral langu age dev elop m ent, inc lu ding
collaborative discussions, language awareness, and general academic and domain-specific vocabulary.
H ow ev er, oth er u nderstandings ab ou t literary and inf orm ational tex ts enter into designated E L D
instru c tion as w ell. D u ring designated E L D c h ildren discuss ideas and information f rom E L A and oth er
c ontent areas u sing th e langu age ( e. g. , v oc ab u lary , gram m atic al stru c tu res) of th ose c ontent areas
and also discuss the new language th ey are learning to u se.
F or ex am p le, a teac h er leads h er stu dents in a w riting ac tiv ity in w h ic h stu dents w rite op inion
p iec es ab ou t a story th ey read du ring E L A . S h e stru c tu res a q u estion in su c h a w ay as to p rom ote th e
u se of p artic u lar langu age ( e. g. , W h y did y ou enj oy th is b ook ? W h y do y ou th ink oth er c h ildren w ou ld
enj oy reading th is b ook ? Giv e th ree reasons. ) . S h e p rov ides
su p p ort f or c h ildren to disc u ss th eir ideas u sing new v oc ab u lary
DuringdesignatedELD,
and gram m atic al stru c tu res b y giv ing th em an op en sentenc e
f ram e ( e. g. , I enjoyed th is b ook b ec au se _ _ _ _ _ . O th er c h ildren teachersensurethatEL
might enjoy th is b ook b ec au se _ _ _ _ _ . ) . D u ring designated E L D , studentshavethetimeand
teac h ers ensu re th at E L stu dents h av e th e tim e and op p ortu nity opportunitytodiscusstheir
to disc u ss th eir ideas u sing new langu age th at th ey need to ideasusingnewlanguage
f u lly engage in E L A and oth er c ontent areas. F or an ex tended thattheyneedtofully
disc u ssion of h ow th e C A E L D S tandards are u sed th rou gh ou t
th e day in tandem w ith th e C A C C S S f or E L A / L iterac y and
engageinELAandother
oth er c ontent standards and as th e p rinc ip al standards du ring
contentareas.
designated E L D , see th e ov erv iew of th e sp an in th is c h ap ter.
S ee also th e disc u ssion in c h ap ter 2 in th is ELA/ELD Framework. S nap sh ots 3 . 9 and 3 . 10 p rov ide b rief
25 8 | C h ap ter 3 Grade 1
Snapshot 3.10 describes how a teacher who teaches in English throughout the day uses
designated ELD time to support EL children at different English language proficiency levels to fully
access mathematical understandings and also develop the English language and literacy abilities
needed to interact meaningfully with the math content.
Mrs. Noguchi is teaching her students to explain their thinking when they solve
mathematical word problems. She models how to do this while thinking aloud for her students
as she solves word problems using her document camera. She draws figures with labels to
make her thinking visible, and she identifies language in the word problems that reveals what
kind of word problem it is (e.g., how many are left, how many are there altogether, how many
more). She provides opportunities for her students to practice what she is modeling, and she
has them work collaboratively to solve word problems with peers and explain to one another
how they are solving the problems. She also has them draw and label to show visually how
they solved the problems.
During designated ELD instruction, Mrs. Noguchi works with her EL students to help them
understand and gain confidence using the language needed to explain their mathematical
thinking. For example, she uses familiar word problems from mathematics instruction and
guides the children to chart the words and phrases needed to solve and explain the problems
(e.g., add, subtract, total, in all, how many more, how many are left). Using puppets,
manipulatives, and small whiteboards, the students work in triads and take turns assuming
the role of math teacher. They show their students how to solve the math problems as
they explain how to solve them. She prompts the teachers to ask their students questions
as they are explaining how to solve the problems so that they can practice using the terms in
meaningful ways.
Mrs. Noguchi also prompts the children to provide good reasons for solving the problems
the way they did. To support their explanations, she provides them with sentence frames
tailored to the English language proficiency levels of her ELD groups. For example, when
she works with children at the Emerging level of English language proficiency, to support
them in explaining the sequence of their problem solving, she provides them with sentence
frames containing sequencing terms (e.g., First, you ___. Then, you ___. Next, you __.). She
provides ELs at the Expanding level with sentence frames that will promote more extended
explanations of their thinking (e.g., First, you ___, because ___. After that, you have to
____ so you can see ___.). As the children engage in the task, Mrs. Noguchi observes them
and encourages them to use the mathematical terms and phrases (e.g., subtract, how many
altogether) in their explanations.
During math time, Mrs. Noguchi encourages her students to use the new language they
have been practicing in designated ELD, and she observes how they are using the language
to express their mathematical understanding so that she can continue to tailor her ELD
instruction to her students language learning needs.
CA ELD Standards: ELD.PI.1.1, 3, 5, 6, 11, 12b (Em); ELD.PI.1.1, 3, 5, 6, 11, 12b (Ex); ELD.PII.1.2 (Em);
ELD.PII.K1.2, 6 (Ex)
CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy: RI.1.1, 2; SL.1.2, 5, 6; L.1.4, 6
Snapshot 3.11 illustrates the support EL children at the Bridging level of English language
proficiency receive during designated ELD to develop language needed to engage meaningfully with
integrated ELA and social studies learning tasks.
In Social Studies, Mr. Duponts class has been learning about how being a good citizen
involves acting in certain ways. Through teacher read alouds of informational and literary
texts (including stories and folktales), as well as viewing videos and other media, the children
experience and identify examples of honesty, courage, determination, individual responsibility,
and patriotism in American and world history. Mr. Dupont takes care to emphasize American
and international heroes that reflect his students diverse backgrounds. He frequently asks the
children to discuss their ideas and opinions in order to prepare them to write an opinion piece
explaining why they admire a historical figure mentioned in one of the texts they have been
reading.
Because Mr. Duponts EL children are at the Bridging level of English language proficiency,
during designated ELD he provides his students with extended opportunities to discuss
their ideas and opinions, as he knows that this will support them later when writing down
their ideas. He strategically targets particular language that he would like students to use
in their opinion pieces by constructing sentence frames that contain specific vocabulary and
grammatical structures that will enable his students to be more precise and detailed (e.g., My
favorite hero is ___ because ___. ___ was very courageous when ___.). He explains to the
children how they can expand their ideas in different ways by adding information about where,
when, how, and so forth. For example, he explains that instead of simply saying, She worked
on a farm, children could say, She worked on a farm in California, or they could add even
more detail and precision by saying, She worked on a farm in the central valley of California.
He provides his students with many opportunities to construct these expanded sentence
structures as the students discuss the historical figures they are learning about and then
write short summaries of their discussions at the end of each lesson. During these lessons, he
encourages the children to refer to the texts they have previously read together and to cite
evidence from them to support their ideas.
Mr. Dupont also delves more deeply into some of the general academic and domain-
specific vocabulary critical for discussing and writing opinions and ideas on the topic (e.g.,
courage, determination, honesty). He teaches the words explicitly, paying careful attention
to the conceptual understanding of the terms, rather than merely providing short definitions.
He structures opportunities for his students to engage in collaborative conversations in which
they use several of the words in extended exchanges, and he supports the children to use the
words accurately and appropriately by providing sentence frames that contain the words (e.g.,
I show responsibility when I ___. Honesty is important because ___.).
Mr. Dupont thinks strategically about how oral language can serve as a bridge to written
language in order to prepare his students for writing their opinion texts, and he observes his
students during social studies and ELA to see how they are applying the language they are
learning in designated ELD.
Additional examples of designated ELD linked to different content areas, including one for dual
language programs, are provided in the kindergarten grade-level section of this chapter.
F raming Q uestions for All Students Add for Eng lish L earners
W h at are th e b ig ideas and c u lm inating p erf orm anc e W h at are th e E nglish langu age
task s of th e larger u nit of stu dy , and h ow does th is lesson proficiency levels of my
b u ild tow ard th em ? stu dents?
W h at are th e learning targets f or th is lesson, and w h at W h ic h C A E L D S tandards am p lif y
sh ou ld stu dents b e ab le to do at th e end of th e lesson? th e C A C C S S f or E L A / L iterac y
W h ic h c lu sters of C A C C S S f or E L A / L iterac y does th is at stu dents E nglish langu age
lesson address? proficiency levels?
W h at b ac k grou nd k now ledge, sk ills, and ex p erienc es do W h at langu age m igh t b e new
m y stu dents h av e related to th is lesson? f or stu dents and/ or p resent
c h allenges?
H ow c om p lex are th e tex ts and task s?
H ow w ill stu dents interac t in
H ow w ill stu dents m ak e m eaning, ex p ress th em selv es m eaningf u l w ay s and learn
ef f ec tiv ely , dev elop langu age, and learn c ontent? H ow w ill ab ou t h ow E nglish w ork s in
th ey ap p ly or learn f ou ndational sk ills? c ollab orativ e, interp retiv e,
W h at ty p es of sc af f olding, ac c om m odations, or and/ or p rodu c tiv e m odes?
modifications will individual students need for effectively
engaging in th e lesson task s?
H ow w ill m y stu dents and I m onitor learning du ring and
af ter th e lesson, and h ow w ill th at inf orm instru c tion?
26 2 | C h ap ter 3 Grade 1
ELA/Literacy and ELD Vignettes
Th e f ollow ing E L A / literac y and E L D v ignettes illu strate h ow teac h ers m igh t im p lem ent th e C A C C S S
f or E L A / L iterac y and th e C A E L D S tandards u sing th e f ram ing q u estions and additional c onsiderations
disc u ssed in th e p rec eding sec tions. Th e v ignettes are v alu ab le resou rc es f or teac h ers to c onsider
as they collaboratively plan lessons, extend their professional learning, and refine their practice. The
ex am p les in th e v ignettes are not intended to b e p resc rip tiv e, nor are th e instru c tional ap p roac h es
limited to the identified content areas. Rather, they are provided as tangible ideas that can be used
and adapted as needed in flexible ways in a variety of instructional contexts.
EL A/ L iteracy V ig nette
I n v ignette 3 . 5 , th e teac h er gu ides h er stu dents th ink ing ab ou t th e sc ienc e c onc ep ts p resented
in th e tex t, and sh e p rov ides th em w ith op p ortu nities to disc u ss th e tex t in order to m ak e m eaning.
S h e f oc u ses on su p p orting stu dents to identif y th e m ain idea of a sec tion in a tex t, u sing tex tu al
ev idenc e to su p p ort th eir ideas. S h e also gu ides stu dents to p ay c loser attention to th e langu age
in th e inf orm ational tex t sh e reads alou d and to u se th e langu age of th e tex t as th ey ex p ress th eir
u nderstandings.
Back g round
M rs. F ab ian reads inf orm ational tex ts alou d to h er stu dents daily du ring integrated sc ienc e
and E L A instru c tion. S h e intentionally selec ts inf orm ational tex ts th at are ric h in c ontent,
engaging, and p rov ide op p ortu nities f or stu dents to disc u ss th eir ideas and dev elop ac adem ic
language. Her class of 35 first graders includes 15 native English speakers and 20 EL children
w ith sev eral p rim ary langu ages. M ost of h er E L stu dents b egan th e y ear at an E x p anding lev el
of English language proficiency and are comfortable with everyday English.
L esson Contex t
During integrated science and ELA instruction, Mrs. Fabian is teaching her first graders
ab ou t b ees. H er goal f or th e end of th e u nit is f or th e c h ildren to w rite and illu strate th eir
ow n inf orm ational tex ts, w h ic h w ill p rov ide desc rip tions of b ees ( e. g. , th eir anatom y , h ab itat,
b eh av ior) and ex p lain h ow b ees p ollinate c rop s and w h y th ey are so im p ortant to h u m ans. Th e
c h ildren h av e listened ac tiv ely to m u ltip le inf orm ational tex ts on th e top ic and h av e ask ed and
answ ered q u estions ab ou t th em . Th ey h av e also v iew ed v ideos and v isited W eb sites ab ou t
bees and pollination, used magnifying lenses to view pollen on flowers in the school garden,
observed (from a distance) bees pollinating flowers in the school garden, and acted out the
process of pollination using models of bees and large flowers with pollen in them.
Th e c lass b egan generating a b ee w ord w all w ith v oc ab u lary f rom th e inf orm ational tex ts
and ac tiv ities in th e u nit ac c om p anied b y illu strations and p h otograp h s. Th e w ords are grou p ed
sem antic ally . F or ex am p le, th e w ords desc rib ing b ee anatom y ( head, thorax, abdomen,
proboscis) are p resented as lab els f or an illu stration of a b ee s b ody . Th e c lass adds new term s
as they progress through the unit. Mrs. Fabian, who is fluent in Spanish, strategically code
sw itc h es b etw een E nglish and S p anish to sc af f old u nderstanding f or h er S p anish - sp eak ing
E L stu dents. W h enev er p ossib le, sh e also su p p orts h er oth er E L s b y u sing w ords th at sh e h as
learned in th eir p rim ary langu age.
Grade 1 C h ap ter 3 | 26 3
V ig nette 3 . 5 . I nteractiv e R ead Alouds w ith I nformational T ex ts
Integrated ELA, Literacy, and Science Instruction in Grade One (cont.)
L esson Ex cerpts
I n today s lesson, M rs. F ab ian w ill b e m odeling h ow to read a sec tion of th e inf orm ational
tex t c losely . S h e w ill th en gu ide stu dents to disc u ss th e c ontent of th e tex t u sing dom ain-
specific vocabulary from the text. Her goal is not for students to know every fact from the
p assage b u t, rath er, to f oc u s th eir attention on w h at is m ost im p ortant and to th ink ab ou t h ow
th e au th or p resents ideas. H er learning target and th e c lu sters of C A C C S S f or E L A / L iterac y and
C A E L D S tandards in f oc u s f or th e lesson are th e f ollow ing:
L earning T arg et: S tu dents w ill identif y th e m ain top ic of an inf orm ational tex t th ey listen to,
u sing good reasons and ev idenc e to su p p ort th eir ideas.
Primary CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy: RI.1.2 Identify the main topic and retell key details
of a text; RI.1.3 Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces
of information in a text; RI.1.7 Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key
ideas; W.1.7 Participate in shared research and writing projects . . . ; SL.1.1 Participate
in collaborative conversations with diverse partners; SL.1.2 Ask and answer questions
about key details in a text read aloud . . . ; L.1.6 Use words and phrases acquired through
conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts . . .
M rs. F ab ian b egins b y briefly ac tiv ating th e c h ildren s b ac k grou nd k now ledge ab ou t b ees
and p rev iew ing th e p assage th ey w ill b e reading c losely .
M rs. F ab ian: C h ildren, w e v e b een learning a lot ab ou t b ees lately . I m going to giv e y ou
one m inu te to tak e tu rns sh aring w ith y ou r p artner at least th ree ob serv ations
or facts about bees. If you both finish before the minute is up, you can share
ev en m ore ob serv ations and f ac ts.
Th e c h ildren q u ic k ly tu rn to th eir p artners and anim atedly sh are ideas, u sing th e b ee w ord
w all as a ref erenc e. M rs. F ab ian listens to th e c onv ersations to determ ine w h ic h ideas stu dents
are ex p ressing and h ow th ey are ex p ressing th em .
26 4 | C h ap ter 3 Grade 1
V ig nette 3 . 5 . I nteractiv e R ead Alouds w ith I nformational T ex ts
Integrated ELA, Literacy, and Science Instruction in Grade One (cont.)
M rs. F ab ian: W ow ! I c an tell y ou already k now a lot ab ou t b ees. Today , w e are going to
learn som eth ing new . W e are going reread a c ou p le of p ages in one b ook
w e v e b een reading, The Honeymakers, b y Gail Gib b ons. A s y ou listen, I d lik e
y ou to th ink ab ou t w h at th e m ain ideas is in th is sec tion. W h at is it m ostly
ab ou t? . (Reading from a passage mid-way through the book) At each flower
th e f orager b ee c ollec ts nec tar w ith h er p rob osc is. S h e stores th e nec tar in a
sp ec ial p art of h er b ody c alled th e c rop , or h oney stom ac h . Th is stom ac h is
sep arate f rom h er oth er stom ac h ( 14 ) .
As Mrs. Fabian reads these first three sentences in the passage, she points to the
illustrations depicting some of the domain specific vocabulary (e.g., proboscis, crop) . S h e
briefly explains other vocabulary (e.g., nectar, or the sweet juice inside the flower) to make
su re all stu dents u nderstand th e tex t. W h ile th e c h ildren are f am iliar w ith th is c ontent b ec au se
th ey h av e b een learning ab ou t it in sc ienc e, th e langu age is still q u ite new f or m any of th em .
A f ter sh e h as read th e th ird sentenc e, sh e stop s and ask s th e c h ildren a q u estion.
M rs. F ab ian: Th e au th or is giv ing u s a lot of inf orm ation h ere. W h at do y ou th ink th e
au th or m eans b y h er oth er stom ac h ?
Ty ler: I th ink it gots tw o stom ac h s.
M rs. F ab ian: Y ou th ink th e b ee h as tw o stom ac h s? C an y ou say m ore ab ou t th at?
Ty ler: I t said th e b ee p u ts th e nec tar in th e stom ac h . I n th e h oney stom ac h . A nd it
said it s dif f erent f rom th e oth er one.
M rs. F ab ian ac k now ledges th at Ty ler h as inf erred c orrec tly and rereads th e sec tion alou d
again.
M rs. F ab ian: S o, let s go b ac k to w h at I ask ed y ou to th ink ab ou t. W h at do y ou th ink th is
p art of th e b ook is mostly ab ou t? Th ink f or a m om ent ( p au ses f or sev eral
sec onds) . W h en y ou sh are y ou r idea w ith y ou r p artner, u se th is sentenc e
f ram e: Th is p art is mostly ab ou t _ _ _ _ _ . L et s say th at togeth er.
A f ter th e c h ildren say th e op en sentenc e f ram e c h orally w ith M rs. F ab ian, th ey u se it to
p ref ac e th eir ideas w ith p artners, w h ile M rs. F ab ian listens c aref u lly . S h e notic es th at one of
h er E L stu dents, C h u e, h as a good grasp on th e m ain idea, and h e h as sh ared w ith h is p artner
som e ev idenc e f rom th e tex t to su p p ort it. A f ew oth er stu dents are sh aring th eir ideas b u t are
still not q u ite su re ab ou t w h at th e m ain idea f rom th e p assage is.
M rs. F ab ian: C h u e, c an y ou tell m e w h at y ou sh ared w ith y ou r p artner?
C h u e: I sh are th at th e p art is mostly ab ou t th e b ees w h en th ey get nec tar and th ey
p u t it in th e stom ac h . I n th e h oney stom ac h .
M rs. F ab ian: C an y ou ex p lain w h y y ou th ink th at? W h at did th e tex t say th at m ak es y ou
th ink th at?
C h u e: Because it talking about how the forager bee get nectar from the flower with
th e p rob osc is and th en it p u t it in it stom ac h .
Grade 1 C h ap ter 3 | 26 5
V ig nette 3 . 5 . I nteractiv e R ead Alouds w ith I nformational T ex ts
Integrated ELA, Literacy, and Science Instruction in Grade One (cont.)
M rs. F ab ian: Th at s good ev idenc e th at tells m e w h at th is sec tion is m ostly ab ou t. C h ildren,
listen c aref u lly as I reread th is p art so th at w e c an m ak e su re w e re getting
th e m ain idea ( rereads th e p assage) . Th u m b s u p or dow n ev ery one if y ou
agree th at th is p art is m ostly ab ou t th e b ees c ollec ting nec tar and storing it in
th eir h oney stom ac h s.
M rs. F ab ian w rites b ees c ollec t nec tar and store it in th e h oney stom ac h on th e c h art nex t
to h er. A s sh e reads th e nex t p art of th e p assage, sh e again p oints to th e illu strations to draw
attention to som e of th e w ords th at are dep ic ted in th em ( e. g. , pollen, pollen basket) and sh e
ac ts ou t som e of th e b ee b eh av ior th at th e p assage desc rib es ( e. g. , c ollec t) . Th e inf orm ation in
th is p art of th e p assage is relativ ely new f or m any of th e c h ildren, so M rs. F ab ian ask s anoth er
q u estion to f u rth er p rom ote th eir u nderstanding and m odel h ow to read a tex t m ore c losely .
Mrs. Fabian: As she goes from flower to flower she comes in contact with a yellow powder
c alled p ollen. S om e of th e p ollen is c ollec ted in little b ask ets f orm ed b y th e
sp ec ial h airs on h er h ind legs. A s th e f orager b ee c ollec ts nec tar, sh e c arries
pollen from flower to flower. This process is called pollination. And down
h ere, in th is c orner, it say s, Th is m ak es seeds to grow new p lants ( Gib b ons,
19 9 7 , 14 - 15 ) . N ow , h ere s som e p retty new inf orm ation f or u s. Th is m igh t b e
a little tric k ier th an th e last sec tion w e read, b u t let s try it. W h at do y ou th ink
th e m ain idea in th is sec tion is? A nd w h y do y ou th ink th at? Th ink ab ou t th e
details.
M rs. F ab ian p lac es th e op en b ook u nder th e doc u m ent c am era so th e c h ildren c an ref er
to th e illu strations and tex t as th ey disc u ss th eir ideas w ith p artners. A s sh e listens to h er
stu dents, sh e ob serv es th at m ost of th em say th e p art is m ostly ab ou t p ollen, w h ile oth ers
su ggest it is ab ou t b ask ets or seeds. Th e c h ildren c ontinu e p ointing to th e illu strations as
th ey disc u ss th eir u nderstandings.
M rs. F ab ian: I n s, w h at do y ou th ink ?
I n s: I th ink it s m ostly ab ou t th e p ollen.
M rs. F ab ian: A nd c an y ou ex p lain m ore? W h y do y ou th ink it s m ostly ab ou t p ollen?
I n s: B ec au se it say s th at th e b ee gets p ollen on its legs and th en it goes to th e
flowers.
M rs. F ab ian: O k ay , let s read th at again. ( R ereads th e p art. )
I n s: I th ink m ay b e it s ab ou t p ollination?
M rs. F ab ian: Th at s a b ig w ord, isn t it? L et s all say th at w ord togeth er.
C h ildren: ( C h orally w ith M rs. F ab ian) P ollination.
M rs. F ab ian: A nd w h at m ak es y ou th ink th at, I n s?
I n s: ( S h ru gging. )
M rs. F ab ian: C an som eone add on to w h at I n s said? B randon?
Brandon: It said that the bees get the pollen on their legs and then it goes to the flower.
( P au ses. )
M rs. F ab ian: A nd th en w h at h ap p ens?
26 6 | C h ap ter 3 Grade 1
V ig nette 3 . 5 . I nteractiv e R ead Alouds w ith I nformational T ex ts
Integrated ELA, Literacy, and Science Instruction in Grade One (cont.)
B randon: A nd th en it s c alled p ollination. I t m ak es seeds so th e p lants grow .
M rs. F ab ian: O h , so w h at y ou re all say ing is th at th e b ee gets p ollen on its legs, in its
pollen baskets, and when it goes from flower to flower, it leaves pollen on the
other flowers. And thats what helps the flowers make seeds so that they can
grow p lants. Th is p roc ess is w h at w e c all pollination.
Chue: We did that. When we had the flowers and the yellow powder the pollen.
M rs. F ab ian: Y es, th at s righ t, y ou ac ted ou t th e p roc ess of p ollination. L et s reread th is p art
j u st to m ak e su re w e h av e th e m ain idea righ t ( rereads) . O k ay , so th u m b s u p
or dow n if y ou th ink th is p art is m ostly ab ou t th e p roc ess of p ollination.
M rs. F ab ian w rites th e p roc ess of p ollination u nder th e b ee c ollec ting nec tar. R ereading
th e p assage again, sh e gu ides th e stu dents to tell h er h ow sh e sh ou ld lab el a draw ing sh e h as
prepared in advance, which illustrates bee pollination (a bee going from flower to flower). Later,
sh e w ill p ost th e diagram on th e b ee w ord w all. To w rap u p th e lesson, M rs. F ab ian m odels
m ak ing an inf erenc e, gu iding stu dents to th ink a little m ore deep ly ab ou t th e tex t.
M rs. F ab ian: H m m . I m notic ing som eth ing interesting h ere. F irst th e au th or told u s
ab ou t th e bee collecting nectar, and th en sh e told u s ab ou t th e process of
pollination. I w onder w h y sh e p u t th ese tw o ideas in th e sam e p assage. W h y
do y ou th ink sh e did th at? ( P au ses to let th e c h ildren ref er to th e illu strations
and tex t as th ey c onsider h er q u estion. )
M rs. F ab ian: S h are w h at y ou are th ink ing w ith y ou r p artner. ( S h e listens to th e c h ildren
sh are th eir ideas. ) S olange and C arlos, w h at did th e tw o of y ou sh are w ith one
anoth er?
S olange: M ay b e th ey get th e nec tar and th e p ollen at th e sam e tim e w h en th ey go to
the flower?
Carlos: And then they carry the pollen on their legs to another flower. And they get
m ore nec tar and m ore p ollen, and th en th ey k eep doing th at.
M rs. F ab ian: ( N odding. ) I m th ink ing th at, too. I m th ink ing th at th e au th or w anted to sh ow
that the bees are getting pollen on their legs from all those flowers while
th ey re c ollec ting nec tar, and th at s w h y sh e s telling u s th ese tw o th ings at th e
sam e tim e. Th ey are h ap p ening at th e sam e tim e, and th at s h ow th e p ollen
travels from one flower to another. What was that big word we learned?
C h ildren: P ollination!
To w rap u p th e lesson, M rs. F ab ian ask s stu dents to c ontinu e b eing good sc ientists w h en
th ey ob serv e w h at is h ap p ening arou nd th em and notic e w h at is h ap p ening f rom a distanc e
w h en th ey see a b ee ou tside of sc h ool, in a v ideo, or in a b ook . S h e ask s th em to m ak e
c onnec tions b etw een th e tex t sh e read alou d and w h at th ey are learning in sc ienc e instru c tion.
S h e enc ou rages stu dents to ask th em selv es q u estions lik e th ese: D oes th e b ee h av e pollen in
its pollen baskets? Is the pollen getting on the flowers? Is the bee getting the nectar w ith its
proboscis?
Grade 1 C h ap ter 3 | 26 7
V ig nette 3 . 5 . I nteractiv e R ead Alouds w ith I nformational T ex ts
Integrated ELA, Literacy, and Science Instruction in Grade One (cont.)
Teacher Reflection and Next Steps
O v er th e c ou rse of th e u nit, M rs. F ab ian ob serv es h er stu dents c aref u lly . S h e is p artic u larly
interested to see if th e c h ildren u nderstand th e sc ienc e c onc ep ts th ey are learning and w h eth er
th ey u se som e of th e new v oc ab u lary and gram m atic al stru c tu res in th eir disc u ssions and
w riting. F or th e c u lm inating p roj ec t stu dent- w ritten inf orm ational tex ts ab ou t b ees stu dents
u se th e new langu age th ey h av e dev elop ed.
A ll A b ou t B ees, b y _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
p . 1 I ntrodu c tion p . 4 B ee j ob s p . 7 P ollination
p . 2 B ee anatom y p . 5 M etam orp h osis p . 8 B ee danc es
p . 3 Th e b eeh iv e p . 6 H oney p . 9 I nteresting f ac ts
A s th ey w rite th eir tex ts, th e c h ildren ref er to th e b ee w ord w all, c h arts and sentenc e
f ram es p osted th rou gh ou t th e room , and look b ac k at sev eral inf orm ational tex ts on th e top ic
that Mrs. Fabian has placed on tables and in the classroom library. Once finished, each child
reads h is or h er b ook to th e c lass f rom th e A u th or s C h air. F inally , th e b ook s stu dents h av e
w ritten are p lac ed in th e c lassroom lib rary c orner to b e read ov er and ov er again.
O ne stu dent, M ary am , h as j u st arriv ed to th e U . S . f rom S om alia and is at th e early E m erging
level of English language proficiency. Mrs. Fabian watches Maryam carefully, and she assigns her
a buddy, Tanaad, another first grader who speaks Somali and is a good class helper. Maryam
sits next to Tanaad during partner talk and at first listens as Tanaad and his partner discuss the
sc ienc e c ontent. M rs. F ab ian m odels f or M ary am and p rom p ts h er to u se som e sim p le w ords
and p h rases ( e. g. , yes, no, whats that?, I dont know, I think . . .) so th at sh e c an c ontrib u te
h er ideas to c onv ersations. M ary am is ex p ec ted to p artic ip ate in c lass c h ants, p oem s, and songs
about bees and pollination, even if she is initially only able to say a few words. At first, she is
a little sh y , b u t v ery soon, sh e p artic ip ates enth u siastic ally in th ese grou p langu age ac tiv ities
b ec au se th ey are engaging.
M rs. F ab ian enc ou rages th e c lass to m ak e M ary am f eel w elc om e and su c c essf u l in h er
E nglish langu age dev elop m ent, and h er p eers enc ou rage h er to p artic ip ate in th e ac tiv ities w ith
th em . B ef ore long, M ary am is c h atting on th e p lay grou nd and in th e c lassroom u sing ev ery day
E nglish . W ith enc ou ragem ent f rom M rs. F ab ian and h er c lassm ates sh e b egins to p artic ip ate
m ore in disc u ssions ab ou t tex ts and c ontent. I n addition to soc ial E nglish , sh e is learning th e
ac adem ic E nglish in th e b ee u nit alongside th e oth er c h ildren, lab eling h er draw ings w ith w ords
related to p ollination ( e. g. , pollen, bee, fly) and u sing m ore and m ore of th e w ords in h er
sp ok en interac tions w ith oth ers.
R esource
Tex t ex c erp ts are f rom
Gib b ons, Gail. 19 9 7 . The Honeymakers. N ew Y ork , N Y : H arp er C olllins.
26 8 | C h ap ter 3 Grade 1
V ig nette 3 . 5 . I nteractiv e R ead Alouds w ith I nformational T ex ts
Integrated ELA, Literacy, and Science Instruction in Grade One (cont.)
Sources
L esson insp ired b y
S h anah an, Tim oth y , Kim C allison, C h ristine C arriere, N ell K. D u k e, P . D av id P earson, C h ristop h er S c h atsc h neider, and
J osep h Torgesen. 2 0 10 . Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten through 3rd Grade: A Practice Guide
( N C E E 2 0 10 - 4 0 3 8 ) . W ash ington, D C : N ational C enter f or E du c ation E v alu ation and R egional A ssistanc e, I nstitu te
of E du c ation S c ienc es, U . S . D ep artm ent of E du c ation.
S p y c h er, P am ela. 2 0 0 9 . L earning A c adem ic L angu age th rou gh S c ienc e in Tw o L ingu istic ally D iv erse C lassroom s.
Elementary School Journal 109 (4): 359379.
Y op p , R u th H . , and H allie K. Y op p . 2 0 12 . Y ou ng C h ildren s L im ited and N arrow E x p osu re to I nf orm ational Tex t. The
Reading Teacher 65: 480490.
Additional I nformation
W eb sites
R eadw riteth ink h as lesson ideas ( h ttp : / / w w w . readw riteth ink . org/ c lassroom - resou rc es/ lesson- p lans/ ) f or teac h ing
stu dents to read inf orm ational tex ts ( w w w . readw riteth ink . org) .
R eading R oc k ets h as ideas f or u sing inf orm ational tex ts ( h ttp : / / w w w . readingroc k ets. org/ reading- top ic s/ c ontent-
area- teac h ing- and- learning) ( w w w . readingroc k ets. org) .
R ecommended reading
H eisey , N atalie, and L inda Ku c an. 2 0 10 . I ntrodu c ing S c ienc e C onc ep ts to P rim ary S tu dents Th rou gh R ead- A lou ds:
I nterac tions and M u ltip le Tex ts M ak e th e D if f erenc e. The Reading Teacher 63 (8): 666676. (h ttp : / / w w w .
readingroc k ets. org/ artic le/ 4 15 5 7 )
Grade 1 C h ap ter 3 | 26 9
V ig nette 3 . 6 . U npack ing Sentences
Designated ELD Instruction in Grade One (cont.)
I n addition to v oc ab u lary , th e team also notic es th at m any of th e sentenc es in th e
inf orm ational sc ienc e tex ts are densely p ac k ed. Th ey dec ide th at instead of sim p lif y ing th e
langu age f or th eir E L stu dents, th ey sh ou ld delv e into th e langu age so th at th eir E L stu dents
c an b egin to u nderstand it b etter. Th ey ref er to th e C A E L D S tandards to see w h at ty p es of
v oc ab u lary and gram m atic al stru c tu res th eir E L c h ildren at th e E x p anding lev el sh ou ld b e ab le
to u se, and th ey inc orp orate th is gu idanc e into th eir p lanning. Th e teac h ers dec ide to m odel
f or stu dents h ow to u np ac k th e dense sentenc es th at c h arac teriz e th eir sc ienc e tex ts. A f ter
stu dy ing th is p artic u lar tec h niq u e in a p rof essional learning sem inar p rov ided b y th eir distric t,
and adap ting it to m eet th eir stu dents needs, th ey w rite th e p roc edu re th ey w ill u se k now ing
that they can refine it after they have seen how well it works.
I n today s lesson, M rs. F ab ian w ill introdu c e th e sentenc e u np ac k ing tec h niq u e to m odel
h ow to read/ listen to th eir tex ts m ore c losely . Th e learning targets and c lu ster of C A E L D
S tandards M rs. F ab ian f oc u ses on are th e f ollow ing:
L earning T arg et: S tu dents w ill disc u ss h ow to j oin tw o ideas u sing c oordinating and
su b ordinating c onj u nc tions to sh ow relationsh ip s b etw een ideas.
L esson Ex cerpts
D u ring designated E L D tim e, M rs. F ab ian tells h er stu dents th at in th e sc ienc e b ook s sh e is
reading to th em , th ere is of ten a lot of inf orm ation p ac k ed into th e sentenc es, so sh e is
27 0 | C h ap ter 3 Grade 1
V ig nette 3 . 6 . U npack ing Sentences
Designated ELD Instruction in Grade One (cont.)
Grade 1 C h ap ter 3 | 27 1
V ig nette 3 . 6 . U npack ing Sentences
Designated ELD Instruction in Grade One (cont.)
27 2 | C h ap ter 3 Grade 1
V ig nette 3 . 6 . U npack ing Sentences
Designated ELD Instruction in Grade One (cont.)
S h e h ands th e c h ildren sets of p ic tu res w h ere tw o th ings are h ap p ening sim u ltaneou sly
( e. g. , c h ildren are p lay ing on a p lay grou nd w h ile th eir p arents w atc h th em , a b ee is su c k ing
nectar from a flower while it collects pollen on its legs), and she writes the words while
and as at th e top of a p iec e of c h art p ap er. S h e ask s stu dents to w ork in p airs and
c reate sentenc es th at inc lu de tw o ideas c onnec ted w ith th e w ord w h ile or as. A s th ey
w ork togeth er to c om b ine th e ideas, sh e listens to th em so th at sh e c an resp ond to any
m isu nderstandings righ t aw ay . A f ter th e c h ildren h av e c onstru c ted m u ltip le sentenc es in
p artners, sh e ask s th em to tell h er som e of th em , and sh e w rites th em on th e w h ile and as
c h art.
M rs. F ab ian: W h o c an tell m e w h y w e m igh t w ant to u se th e w ords w h ile or as?
Th ao: Th ey h elp u s p u t tw o ideas togeth er.
M rs. F ab ian: Y es, th ey do. C an y ou say m ore?
Th ao: ( Th ink ing. ) Th ey m ak e th e tw o ideas h ap p en at th e sam e tim e?
M rs. F ab ian: Y es, th at s righ t. Th e w ords w h ile and as let u s k now th at tw o ev ents
are happening at the same time. Today we unpacked sentences to find out
w h at all th e m eanings are, and w e look ed esp ec ially c losely at h ow th e w ords
w h ile and as are u sed to c onnec t ideas. F rom now on, I w ant y ou to b e
good langu age detec tiv es. A good langu age detec tiv e is alw ay s th ink ing ab ou t
h ow to u np ac k sentenc es to u nderstand th e m eaning b etter. A nd a good
langu age detec tiv e is som eone w h o is alw ay s th ink ing ab ou t h ow w ords are
u sed to m ak e m eaning. W h o th ink s th ey c an b e a good langu age detec tiv e?
C h ildren: ( C h orally ) . M e!
Teacher Reflection and Next Steps
D u ring th e rest of th e day , M rs. F ab ian ob serv es h er E L c h ildren to see if th ey are u sing
any of th e new langu age resou rc es sh e is teac h ing th em in th eir sp eec h and w riting. F or th e
rest of th e sc ienc e u nit, M rs. F ab ian w ork s w ith h er stu dents du ring designated E L D tim e to
u np ac k sentenc es in oth er sc ienc e tex ts sh e is u sing, f oc u sing strategic ally on th e asp ec ts of
th e sentenc es th at m ak e th em dense ( e. g. , long nou n p h rases, p rep ositional p h rases) . S h e
u ses a ru b ric b ased on th e C A E L D S tandards to assess h ow indiv idu al stu dents are p rogressing
w ith th eir u se of p artic u lar langu age resou rc es ( e. g. , v oc ab u lary , gram m atic al stru c tu res, tex t
organiz ation) . W h enev er p ossib le, sh e enc ou rages th em to u se th e new langu age, p rom p ting
th em w ith q u estions lik e, How can you combine those two ideas to show they are happening
at the same time? A lth ou gh th e c h ildren of ten p rodu c e im p erf ec t sentenc es, M rs. F ab ian
of f ers c orrec tiv e f eedb ac k sp aringly sinc e sh e k now s th at th e c h ildren are ex p erim enting w ith
langu age and p rac tic ing th e gram m atic al stru c tu res th at th ey w ill c ontinu e to learn as th e u nit
p rogresses.
R esource
Tex t ex c erp ts are f rom
Gib b ons, Gail. 19 9 7 . The Honeymakers. N ew Y ork , N Y : H arp er C olllins.
Grade 1 C h ap ter 3 | 27 3
V ig nette 3 . 6 . U npack ing Sentences
Designated ELD Instruction in Grade One (cont.)
Source
L esson insp ired b y
C h ristie, F ranc es. 2 0 0 5 . Language Education in the Primary Years. S y dney , A u stralia: U N S W P ress.
D erew iank a, B ev erly , and P au line J ones. 2 0 12 . Teaching Language in Context. S ou th M elb ou rne, V ic toria: O x f ord
U niv ersity P ress.
W ong F illm ore, L ily . 2 0 12 . Supporting Access to the Language and Content of Complex Texts for EL and LM Students.
P resentation at th e Title I I I A c c ou ntab ility I nstitu te. D ec em b er, 2 0 12 .
Additional I nformation
W eb sites
The Council of the Great City Schools pro65vides a Classroom Example of Teaching Complex Text: Butterfly
( h ttp : / / v im eo. c om / 4 7 3 15 9 9 2 ) .
R ecommended reading
D onov an, C arol A . , and L au ra B . S m olk in. 2 0 11. S u p p orting I nf orm ational W riting in th e E lem entary Grades. The
Reading Teacher 64: 406416. (h ttp : / / w w w . readingroc k ets. org/ artic le/ 5 2 2 4 6 ) .
Conclusion
Th e inf orm ation and ideas in th is grade- lev el sec tion are p rov ided to gu ide teac h ers in th eir
instru c tional p lanning. R ec ogniz ing C alif ornia s ric h ly div erse stu dent p op u lation is c ritic al f or
instru c tional and p rogram p lanning and deliv ery . Teac h ers are resp onsib le f or edu c ating a v ariety
of learners, inc lu ding adv anced learners, students w ith disabilities, EL s at different
English language proficiency levels, standard Eng lish learners, and oth er culturally and
ling uistically div erse learners, as w ell as students experiencing difficulties w ith one or m ore
of th e th em es of E L A / literac y and E L D instru c tion ( M eaning M ak ing, E f f ec tiv e E x p ression, L angu age
D ev elop m ent, C ontent Know ledge, and F ou ndational S k ills) .
I t is b ey ond th e sc op e of a c u rric u lu m f ram ew ork to p rov ide gu idanc e on m eeting th e learning
needs of ev ery stu dent b ec au se eac h stu dent c om es to teac h ers w ith u niq u e dep ositions, sk ills,
h istories, and c irc u m stanc es. Teac h ers need to k now th eir stu dents w ell th rou gh ap p rop riate
assessm ent p rac tic es and oth er m eth ods, inc lu ding c om m u nic ation w ith f am ilies, in order to design
effective instruction for them. They need to adapt and refine instruction as appropriate for individual
learners. F or ex am p le, a teac h er m igh t antic ip ate b ef ore a lesson is tau gh t or ob serv e du ring a
lesson th at a stu dent or a grou p of stu dents w ill need som e additional or m ore intensiv e instru c tion
in a p artic u lar area. B ased on th is ev alu ation of stu dent needs, th e teac h er m igh t p rov ide indiv idu al
or small group instruction, adapt the main lesson, or collaborate with a colleague. (See figure 3.36.)
I nf orm ation ab ou t m eeting th e needs of div erse learners, sc af f olding, and m odif y ing or adap ting
instru c tion is p rov ided in c h ap ters 2 and 9 of th is ELA/ELD Framework.
First grade children have flung open the doors of literacy and become newly powerful in navigating
th eir w ay w ith w ords, sentenc es, b ook s, and tex ts of all ty p es. Th ey h av e j u st b egu n to glim p se w h ere
this road can take them. The hope is that they discover paths that fill their imaginations with wonder
and th eir m inds w ith grand p lans f or th e f u tu re.
27 4 | C h ap ter 3 Grade 1
Figure 3.36. Collaboration
Collaboration: A N ecessity
F req u ent and m eaningf u l c ollab oration w ith c olleagu es and p arents/ f am ilies is c ritic al f or
ensu ring th at all stu dents m eet th e ex p ec tations of th e C A C C S S f or E L A / L iterac y and th e C A
E L D S tandards. Teac h ers are at th eir b est w h en th ey rou tinely c ollab orate w ith th eir teac h ing
c olleagu es to p lan instru c tion, analy z e stu dent w ork , disc u ss stu dent p rogress, integrate
new learning into their practice, and refine lessons or identify interventions when students
experience difficulties. Students are at their best when teachers enlist the collaboration of
p arents and f am ilies and th e stu dents th em selv es as p artners in th eir edu c ation. S c h ools
are at th eir b est w h en edu c ators are su p p orted b y adm inistrators and oth er su p p ort staf f
to im p lem ent th e ty p e of instru c tion c alled f or in th is ELA/ELD Framework. S c h ool distric ts
are at th eir b est w h en teac h ers ac ross th e distric t h av e an ex p anded p rof essional learning
c om m u nity th ey c an rely u p on as th ou gh tf u l p artners and f or tangib le instru c tional resou rc es.
M ore inf orm ation ab ou t th ese ty p es of c ollab oration c an b e f ou nd in c h ap ter 11 and
th rou gh ou t th is ELA/ELD Framework.
Grade 1 C h ap ter 3 | 27 5
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